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HE IMMORTALITY SSKERS). 

An Interplanetary Novelette 
iy JOHN W. CAMPBELL, JR. 



RAY CUMMINGS 



CAVERN OF TH^ 
SHINING POOL 

A Novelette of 
Time’s Vortex 

By 

ARTHUR 




World Mikr 



for home \i»e. 



■ (er> Tut on >'<|ur o 



- 1 

home, perliei, cloh «r. 
»>n. etc. B*ri«U ol fun! F^«r 







b oper»«e. , 

Vice Posipoid A O'' 

Fji 

'ic Froar^mt an^ Sporlt trwrfwh^f You Go—Lewd loft* 

I Iwautiful clear (one nlilK you valh! The emazins midee. 
» pocket m<Jio c<<ea you all Ihr enteruinment o( a radio Mheretet 

, v-m arc-ln the rwiinin*. ^ 



■ifiitiiiiiiCTW-FPratniF-tfli 

I l-'iiNt uSlh ihc Wvr-priced crj'ial lailm. llicM A 

I /anioiiK (Vorld Mlhe. lt>vi> the A’>l 'Vave 'VotW.a'MV^ 

Irn it.p noiisr Pockel Radio, and HOW a cenunia i'rB.%1-^ 
;.^ 1 ITTKH dial tenila oul nirtueaes by uirelena. tor 
I aoe peit«9a. Noie (hew «cn«aiii>nal ri'aiures'. 
cb«d uH «n m •wltsM* flodlo Doeolvor 
Ika.bul • coai^oto Broidcbtfiitc S«t 
•t* wifh HfV. in Nil Form 
;t In «o an* AC-DC clroult 
»■ Z oscllJatlttg iuba* _ 
fi ller. St, 00 p(u i l Oo p oat. Tubaa (uiai 

JrlrEnph sr« 










KmK. IO «»m«, » lor a »4. ^ ' »« n . . .p!>, vm^\ 

ADbRESS ALL ORDERS FOR GOOOV^ON tHIS PAGE TO 

^^JOHNSON SMITH & CO 



■ IA'PANESL ROSE BU 














don’t Worry abo^ 
Rupture 

• Why pnt np with days . . . months . . . THAKS of discomfort, 
worry and fear? Licarn how abont this perfected invention for all 
forms of reducible rupture. Surely you keenly desire — you 
eagerly CRATS to enjoy life’s normal activities and pleasures 
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the haunting Fear of Rupture banished from your thoughts! 

Literally thouaanda of rupture sufferers have entered this King- 
dom oi Paradise Regained. Why not you? Some wise man said, 

“Nothing is Impossible In this world” — and it 18 true, for where 
others fall Is where we have had our greatest success in many 
cases I Even doctors — thousands of them — have ordered for them- 
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do not detpair. The coupon below brings our Free Rupture Booh 
in plain envelope. Send the coupon now. 



FikiM Ali-OUSHIOI liipp^rt 
iatir© a Shan®® £i@i® 






Think of It! Here’s a surprising yet .imple-actlng Invention that 
permits Nature to close the openljg — that holds the rupture 
securely but gently, day and night /at work and at play I Thou- 
sands of grateful letters expres' heartfelt thanks for results 
beyond the expectation of the w'.iters. What Is this invention — 
How does it work? Will It help me?- Get the complete, fascinat- 
ing facts on the Brooks Automatic Air Cushion Appliance — send 
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“SoinlQiJeaoy = Comffoirij’sibl]® 

Rich or poor — ANYONE can afford to buy this remarkable, LOW- 
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— send coupon quick! ' 







Read These Reports 
on Reducible Rupture Cases 
(/n our files at Marahail, Michigan, we 
/tavo over Si,000 grateful leftera which 
have come to ue entirely unaolieited 
and loithout any sort of payment,) 

l^lkes Brooks Best 
"I bought one of your Rupture AppU> 
anceo in 1838. wore It day and night 
for one year and laid It aside last De- 
cember. The rupture hasn’t bothered 
tne since. I nsed several others with- 
out success until 1 got a Brooks.*’ — 
J. B. McCarter. Route 2, Box 104| 
Oregon City. Ore. 

*'Buns and Plays** 

*’My son has not worn the Appliance 
for over a veer. He wore one for ten 
years and 1 am very grateful now to 
think he has laid It aelde. He la 
twelve years old. mas and plays 
like all boys and Is never bothered 
about the rupture.’* — Mrs. M. George, 
Route 1. Box 108, Cumberland, Hd. 



B^all This Coupon NOW! 

1 BROOKS APPLIANCE CO. I 

I 18S-H State SlTeet, Maishall, Mich. | 
■ Without obligation, please send your n 
1 FREE BOOK on Rupture, PROOF of R®- ! 

B eults, and ’TRIAL OFFER— all In plain | 
envelope. . 

I Name- - ^ 

1 Street....-^. I 

a I 

I City State “ 

I State whether for □ Man, Q Woman, I 
S or □ Child. B 



SENT OH TRIAL! 

No . . . don*t order a Brooks now^FIRST got the eom- 
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comfort — the freedom from fear and worry — the seou- 
I rity — the same amasing results thousands of men, 
I women and children have reported They found our 
' invention the answer to their prayers 1 Why can’t yog? 
And you risk nothing as the complete Appliance la 
sent on trial. Surely you owe It to yourself to investi- 
gate this no-risk trial. Send for the facts now — today — h\tfry| An 
oorrespondence strictly confidential. 




C B, BROOKSg 
Inventor 



FREE! latest Rupture Book Explains All I 

Plain Envelope Jyst Clip QD’ad Send Co upon 
Brooks Appliance Ck), 185-H State St., Marshall, Mic h, 




V@iL. 10 



NO. 2 



The Magazine of Prophetic Fiction 



October, 193^ 



IN THE 
NEXT ISSyE 

o 



rm TiNTH 
WORLD 

A Penton and Blake 
Novelette 



By 

JOHN W. 
OAMPBELiL. JR. 



o 



oiVERy STORy ®RAMD = NIEW 

Table of Contents 

® COMPLETE NOVELETTES 



THE HOTHOUSE PLANET 

By ARTHUR K. BARNES 12 

THE nUMORTALITY SEEKERS ' 

By JOHN W. CAMPBELL, JR 40 

THE CAVERN OF THE SHINING POOL 

By ARTHUR LEO ZAGAT 66 

A COMET PASSES 

By EANDO BINDER 102 



A munute 

A Space>Time 
Novelette 
By 

RALPH MILNE 
PARLEY 



'inHIgMIND 

MAmBT 

A Novelette of the , 
Stratosphere 
By 

PAUL ERNST 



A SPECIAL 
ARTICLE 
ON ROCKETS 
By 

WILLY LEY 



O THRILLING SHORT STORIES 



THE SPACETIME-SIZE MACHINE 

By RAY CUMMINGS 30 

HOLMES’ FOLLY 

By EDMOND HAMILTON 59 

VIA 'ETHERLINE 

By GORDON A. GILES 79 

WHEN THE EARTH LIVED 

By HENRY KUTTNER 90 

® SPECIAL. PICTURE FEATURES 

ZARNAK 

By MAX PLAISTED 87 

IF— 

By JACK BINDER 101 

® SCIENCE FEATURE 

SCIENTIFACTS 

By J. B. WALTER 64 

3 OTHER STORIES AND FEATURES 

TEST TOUR SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE 37 

SCIENTtBOOK REVIEW 100 

SCIENCE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 114 

THE READER SPEAKS 116 

SCIENCE FICTION LEAGUE US 

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY 120 

THE "SWAP” COLUMN 128 

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT ISSUE. 129 



-^lus many ether un- 
usual novelettes, stories 
«rnd features. 



ON THB COVER 

One of the giant denizens of the jungles of Venus attacks 
a Luckless explorer. This painting depicts a scene in 
Artlvur K. Barnes’ novelette, THE HOTHOUSE PLANET. 



Published bi-monthly by BETTER PUBLICATIONS, INC., 22 West 48th Street, New York, N. T. 
N. L. Pines, President. Copyright, 1937, by Better Publications, Inc. Yearly $.90; single copies, 
J.15; Foreign and Canadian, postage extra. Entered as second-class matter May 21, 1936, at 
the Post Office at New York, N T., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Names of all characters 
used in stories and seml-flction articles are fictitious. If a- name of any living person or 
existing institution Is used, it is a coincidence. ' 

Manuscripts must be accompanied by sdi-addressedf stamped ehvelopesj and are submitted at the author*s risk, 

4 





**When I completed 
20 lessons I obtained 
my Badlo Broadcast 
Operator's license 
and immediately 
ioined station WMPC- 
where I am now 
Chief Operator." — 
HOLLIS F, HaTES» 
85 Madison St.» La* 
peer. Mich. 



"I now have ray own 
Badlo business which 
allows three hundred 
dollars a month prof* 
It — thanhs again to 
Nailonal Radi o." — 
FRANK T. REESE, 
39 N, Folton SU 
Philadelphia. 

Pecna. ^ 




Earned $50 FInl 
Uonth in Spare 
Time. 

, **l knew nolhios 
■A about Radio. Aftei 
V... i) four lessons 1 be* 
can servicing Ra- 
dios. earning $50 the first 
month. Last winter I made as 
high as $100 a month In spare 
G. F. WAJ.TON, 808 
West Olney Boad« Norfolk. Ya. 




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National Radio Institute, Washington, D. O. 

n0a6?9QB8aaSBBQQOag3SO6IOB9OBBB^ 

J. E. SMITH, President, Dept. 7K09, 

National Radio Institute, Washingrton, D. C, 

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ADDRESS.. 



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Established 1914 
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STATE.. 

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EKE DO YOO GO FRO 



e: 



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Some Men. Have FouncI 
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Seeing these danger signs, many aggressive 
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You naturally ask, “Has your training helped 
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Our answer is to point -to a file of letters from 
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Send for these booklets — coupon brings them 
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Please send me*— without cost or obligation— ’(nil informatioa 
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THRILLING WONDER STORIES 




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^ Q o m m m ta ea SI m efts m'ci □ o> m ta □ m m m □ □ ta m □ SI c 



Men paid to, dance with me — 

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IN 

DIME-A-DANCE GIRL 
one of the many sensational true 
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THraLLING 

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*1 

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Tits VACO-tUtncCa. ^eBVjatasa, vySs. L' _ _ . ^ ^ _ 














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Learned Qukhly al Mome 

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have made wonderful progress. 

*L. M. C., N. Y. C. 



Makes Extra 



I haye completed your wonderful 
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*C. Cm New Jersey. 



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I want to say that my friends 
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Y@yp €(S1 Bt) 

iy this EASY 

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The coiling sweep of flesh rope darted out 




CHAPTER I 
The Ark 

again. One hundred and 
® 81 dragging hours of 

throttling, humid heat. An in- 
terminable period of monotony lived 
in. the eternal mists, swirling with 
sluggish dankness, enervating, mias- 
matic, pulsantwith the secret whisper- 
ings of mephitic life-forms. That ac- 
counted for the dull existence of the 
Venusian trader, safe in the protec- 
tion of his stilt-legged trading post 



twenty feet above the spongy earth, 
but bored to the point of madness. 

Tommy Strike stepped out from un- 
der the needle-spray antiseptic shower 
that was the Earthman’s chief defense 
against the myriad malignant bac- 
terial infections swarming the hot- 
house that is Venus. He grabbed a 
towel, made a pass at the lever to turn 
on the refrigeration, unit that pre- 
served them during the hot days, shut 
off the night heating system, and 
yelled : ' 

“Roy! - Awake! Arise! Today’s 
the great day! The British are com- 










9 - 



12 




ingl Wake up for the event!” 

Roy Ransom, Strike’s assistant, 
staggered into view rubbing the sleep i 
from his eyes. 

“British?” he mumbled. “What if 
British?” '' 

“Why, Gerry Carlyle. The great 
Xarlyle is coming today, in his sp^ial 
ship, with his trained crew, straight 
from the Interplanetary Zoo in Lon- 
don. The famous ‘Catch-’em-alive’ 
Carlyle is^on his way, and we’re the 
lucky guys chosen to guide him on his 
exp^ition on Venus!” 

Ransom scratched one thick, hairy 





14 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



leg and stepped under the shower 
with a sour expression. 

“Ain’t that somethin’?” he inquired. 

“You don’t look with faVor on Mis- 
ter Carlyle?” Strike chuckled. 

“No, I don’t. I’ve heard all I want 
to hear about him. Capturing animals 
from different planets and bringing 
them back alive to the Zoo in London 
is all right; I’d like the job myself. 
But any guy that rates the sickening 
amount of publicity he does must have 
something phony about ’im!” He 
kicked toward the short-wave radio in 
one corner of the living room. “Bein’ 
so close to the sun, were lucky if we 
bring in a couple of Earth programs 
a day through the interference. And 
it seems to me every damn’ one of ’em 
has something about the famous Car- 
lyle. Gerry Carlyle eats Lowden’s 
Vita-cubes on expedition. Gerry Car- 
lyle smokes germ-free Suaves. Gerry 
Carlyle drinks refreshing Alka-lager. 
Pfui! 

“An’ now we’re ordered to slog 
around this dripping planet for ’im, 
doing all the work of bagging a bunch 
of weird specimens for the yokels t’ 
gape at, while he gets all the glory 
back home!” 

Tommy Strike laughed good- 
naturedly. 

“You’re all bark and not much bite, 
Roy. You’re just as glad as I am 
something’s turned up to relieve the 
monotony.” He brought out his day- 
time clothes, singlet and trousers of 
thin, rubberized material, and the in- 
evitable broad-soled boots for travers- 
ing the treacherous soft spots on 
Venus’ surface. 

“Yeah?” retorted Ransom. “I can 
tell you one thing this visit’ll turn up, 
an’ that’s trouble ! Sure as you’re born. 
Tommy, that guy’s cornin’ here to get 
two or .three Murris — he hopes! An’ 
you know what that’ll mean !” 

Strike’s eyes clouded. There was 
truth in Ransom’s remzirk. Hunting 
for the strange little creatures called 
Murris never had resulted in anything 
but trouble since the day Sidney Mur- 
ray, co-leader of the first great Venu- 
sian exploration party, the Cecil Stan- 
hope — Sidney Murray Expedition, 
first set eyes upon them, 

“Well,” he drugged, “we can staU 



just before he’s ready to leave, and 
have some fun at least. Maybe, too, 
he’ll listen to reason !” 

M ANSOM snorted in wordless dis- 
gust at this fantastic hope. 
"Anyhow,” insisted Strike, deter- 
mined to see the cheerful side, “even 
if there is any disturbance, it always 
blows over in a few days. I’m heading 
for the landing- field; they’re just 
about due.” 

Tommy Strike stepped outside into 
the breathlessly hot, blinding mist, 
thick with the stench of rot and decay. 
Earthly eyes could hot penetrate this 
eternal shroud for more than a hun- 
dred feet at a time, even when a wind 
stirred the stuff up to resemble the 
churning of a weak solution of dirty 
milk. Strike grimaced and thought- 
lessly filled and lit his pipe. 

Thirty seconds later the air became 
filled with, the thin screams and bang- 
ings of dozens of the fabulous whiz- 
bang beetles as they hurtled their 
armored bodies blindly against the 
metal' walls of the station, attracted 
by the odor of tobacco. Strike flinched 
and hurriedly doused the pipe. A 
man couldn’t even have the solace of 
a smoke on this damned planet; his 
life would be endangered by the ter- 
rific. speed of those whiz-bangs. 

A few steps took S^trike to the 
safety of the rear of the station, where 
abandoned calcium carbonate tanks 
loomed like metal giants in the fog. 
There was a time when it had been 
necessary to pump the stuff to the 
miniature space-port a safe distance 
away whenever a ship was about to 
land. There, sprayed forth from thou- 
sands of tiny nozzles high into the air, 
its tremendous affinity for water 
carved a cleared vertical tunnel in the 
fog for the approaching space ship 
pilot. New telescopic developments, 
however, rendered the device obsolete. 

Strike paced deliberately along the 
trail that paralleled the. ancient pipe- 
line — Earthlings soon learn not to 
over-exert in that 'atmosphere — and 
before he had covered half of it his 
quick ears caught the shrill whine of 
a space craft plunging recklessly into 
the Venusian air-envelope. It rose to 
a nerve-rasping pitch, then dropped 



16 



THE HOTHOUSE PLANET 



s^arpl7 away to silence. And pres- 
ently, sounding curiously mufiled and 
distorted through the clouds, c^e the 
noise of opening ports, the clang of 
metal upon metal, voices. 

Gerry Carlyle and company had ar- 
rived. 

Strike increased his pace somewhat 
and shortly entered the clearing that 
served as space-port. He paused to 
let his amazed eyes roani over the 
unaccustomed sight. Gerry Carlyle’s 
famous expeditionary ship was an in- 
credible monster of gleaming metal, 
occupying almost the entire field, tow- 
ering into the air further than the eye 
could reach in that atmosphere. Its 
green gla®, portholes were glowing 
weirdly, as they looked down upon 
the stranger, from the ship’s lights. 

HE craft was immense, approach- 
ing in size the giant clipper ships 
that traveled to the furthermost 
reaches of the System. Strike had 
never before been so close to a ship 
of such proportions. He smiled at 
sight of the name on her bow. The 
Ark. 

The Ark, of course, was onp of the 
new centrifugal flyers, containing in 
her stern a centrffuge of unbelievable 
power, with millions of tiny rotors 
running in blasts of compressed air, 
generating sufficient energy to hurl 
the ship through space at tremendous 
speeds. The equipment of The Ark, 
too, was the talk of the System. 

Carlyle, backed by the resources of 
the Interplanetary Zoo, had turned the 
ship into a floating laboratory, with a 
compartment for the captured speci- 
mens arranged to duplicate exactly 
the life conditions of their native 
planets. All the newer scientific in- 
ventions were included in her operat- 
ing apparatus — the paralysis ray, anti- 
gravity, electronic telescope, a dozen 
other things that Strike knew by name 
only. 

Strike’s musings were interrupted 
by the approach of a snappily uni- 
formed man. The fellow saluted, smil- 
ing. 

“Are - you Mr. Strike?” he asked. 
“I’m sub-pilot Barrows, bf The Ark, 
and very glad to meet.you. Gerry Car- 
lyle will see you at once. We’re an- 



xious to get to work immediately.” 
This day was to be one of many 
surprises for Tommy Strike, and per- 
haps the greatest shock of all was re- 
ceived 'when he stood beside the' slop- 
ing runway leading into the brightly 
lighted belly of the ship. For await- 
ing him there, one hand outstretched 
and a cool little smile on her lips, 
stood the most beautiful girl he had 
ever seen. 

“Mr. Strike’,” said Barrows, "this 
is Miss Gerry Carlyle.” 

Strike stared, thunderstruck. In 
those days of advanced plastic surg- 
ery, feminine beauty wasn’t rare, but 
even Strike’s unpracticed eye knew 
that here was the real thing. No syn- 
thetic blonde baby-doll here, but a 
natural beauty untouched by the sur- 
geon’s knife — spun-gold hair, intel- 
ligence lighting her dark eyes, a hint 
of passion and temper in the curve of 
her mouth and arch of her nostrils. 
In short, a woman. 

Miss Carlyle’s voice was an ice- 
water jet that reminded Strike of his 
manners. 

“You don’t seem enthusiastic over 
your temporary employer, Mr. Strike. 
Something wrong about me?” She 
withdrew her fingers from Strike’s 
grasp and watched the crimson tide 
crawl up his neck. 

“Oh. Oh, no.” Strike fumbled for 
words. “That is, I’m surprised that 
you’re a woman. I — we expected to 
find a man in — well, in your position. 
It’s more like a man’s' job.” 

Sub-pilot Barrows could have 
warned Strike that this was a touchy 
point with C^rry Carlyle, but he had 
no chance. The girl drew herself up 
and pointed out coldly: 

“There isn’t a man in the business 
who has done even nearly as well as I. 
Name a half-dozen hunters! Rogers, 
Camden, Potter — they aren’t in the 
same class with me. Man’s job? I 
think you needn’t worry abotit me, 
Mr. Strike. You’ll find I’m man 
enough for an3rthing this planpt has 
to offer!” 

Strike’s eyebrow twitched. Huh. 
An arrogant hussy, withal. Terrjfic 
sense of her own importance, wilful, 
selfish. He decided he didnH like her, 
and rather hoped she had come look- 




16 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



ing for Morris. If so, she would learn 
one or two bitter lessons. 

There followed a five-minute inter- 
lude of scurrying about and shouting 
and unloading, all done to the tune of 
Gerry Carlyle’s voice, which could 
crack like a whip-lash when issuing^ 
commands. Then Strike found him- 
self leading' a small party back to the 
trading post with Miss, Carlyle’s arm 
surprisingly through his, her red lips 
asking a hundred questions, golden 
head bent as she listened with flatter- 
ing attention. 

F irst she wished to know about 
the business of the trading post. 
“It isn’t very exciting,’’ Strike told 
her. “Mostly sitting around being 
bored stiff, playing cards or fiddling 
with a bum radio. Several times dur-' 
ing a Venusian day our natives bring 
in a load of some of the medicinal 
plants for which we’re up here to 
trade. Occasionally a rough gem of 
one kind or another, though Venus is 
very poor in minerals. Only- stone 
really worth much to be found up here 
is the emerald.” 

Gerry Carlyle could scarcely be- 
lieve that there was any profit in 
medicinal plants, considering trans- 
portation costs. 

“Surely there isn’t enough in it to 
persuade a young man like you to 
bury himself in — in this.” She waved 
her hand arotmd disparagingly. 

“There’s profit in it, all right,” 
Strike shrugged. “The drugs dis- 
tilled from some of the Venusian 
growths are plenty valuable. And 
then there’s the adventure angle.” He 
smiled wryly. “Plenty of young bucks 
are willing to sign a three-year con- 
tract for the thrills of living bn 
Venus, if they don’t know anything 
about it beforehand. But it does take 
an awful lot of that stuff to bring a 
transport ship our way. We seldom 
see a ship more often than three or 
four Earth-months' apart.” 

The girl next directed his attention 
to the thousands of fungi now spring- 
ing up through the moist earth with 
almost visible movement. They were 
shaped somewhat like the human 
body, and so pale they seemed like a 
host of tiny corpses rising from their 



graves. 

Strike grimaced ; he had never liked 
those damned things. They reminded 
him constantly that battle and de- 
struction were the watchwords in this 
hellhole, where the fang of every 
creature was turned upon his neigh- 
bor, and the plants had poisoned 
thorns, and even the flowers gave off 
noxious gases to snare the unwary. 

“Yes,” he said. “They grow and 
propagate amazingly fast. Many of 
the smaller life-forms here exist only 
a single day — they are born, live, and 
die in one hundred and seventy hours. 
Naturally their life cycle is speeded 
up. In a few hours, all these puff- 
ball fungi will begin popping at once 
to spread their spores around. It’s a 
funny sight. 

“During the long night, of course, 
the spores lie dormant. And most 
of the larger creatures hibernate frofh 
the intense cold. Our night life up 
here is nil ; this is a nine o’clock planet 
for sure!” 

Gerry Carlyle observed what all 
newcomers observe the minute they 
set foot on Venus: although the view 
is ar drab, almost colorless one, an in- 
credible multiplicity of odors assails 
the nostrils: sweet,' sharp, musklike, 
pungent, spicy, and many unfamiliar 
scents as well. 

Strike explained this, too. On 
Earth, flowering plants are fertilized 
by the passage of insects from one 
bloom to another. For this reason they 
develop petals of vivid colors, to at- 
tract bees and butterflies Md other 
insects. But on Venus, where per- 
petual mist renders impotent any ap- 
peal to the sense of sight, plants have 
adapted themselves to appeal to the 
sense of smell, and thus give off all 
sorts of enticing odors. 

So it' went, the intimate give and 
take of question and, answer and the 
pleasant business of getting ac- 
quainted, until the all-too-short walk 
to the station was over. But Strike 
was not deceived by^^the girl’s sudden 
change of attitude, ^e knew that an 
interplanetary hunter of Gerry Car- 
lyle’s experience would have certainly 
read up on Venus before ever coming 
there; he realized she knew the an- 
swers already to every question she 



THE HOTHOUSE PLANET 



17 



asked. 

She had simply noticed Strike’s dis- 
approving eyebrow during the first 
moments of their meeting, and had 
deliberately determined to ingratiate 
herself with him to promote harmony 
during her brief stay on the cloudy 
planet. Strike was willing to har- 
monize, but he looked upon the girl 
with caution and distaste. No man 
likes any woman to think she’s bam- 
boozling him. 



CHAPTER II 
The Hunters 



ERRY Carlyle was decidedly a 
woman of action. 

“No time to waste,” she declared in- 
cisively as they reached the post. 
“Earth and Venus are nearing con- 
junction, and I want to be ready to 
take off as soon after that date as pos- 
sible. I’ve no wish to hang around in 
space waiting for Earth to catch up to 
us with a cargo of weird specimens 
raising the, devil in the hold. If you’ve 
no objections, Mr. Strike, we’ll n^ke 
Dur first foray at once?’ 

Strike nodded, staring at this 
strange girl who could be one instant 
so warm and friendly, the next im- 
perious and dominating as a queen. 

“Sure,” he agreed. “Be with you in 
a moment.” 

He ran up the metal stairway to 
where Roy Ransom’s face hung over 
the porch rail like an amazed, bearded 
balloon, and the two vanished into the 
house./ Strike returned shortly with a 
tiny two-way radio. 

“Ransom sends out a radio beam for 
us to travel on; I tell him which way 
to turn it in case we deviate from a 
straight line. It’s the only possible 
way to cover any .distances in this 
murk.” He adjusted a single ea^hone, 
slipped receiver and broadcaster unit 
into a capacious pocket. 

Next he insisted on painting the in- 
sides of everyone’s nostrils with a 
tarry, aromatic substance. 

“Germ-killer,” he smiled. “For each 
dangerous animal on this planet, 
there’s a hundred vicious bacteria 



that will knock off an Earthman in 
twenty hours. I efuess that finishes up 
the preliminaries. Shall we go? I 
ought to warn you that the sense of 
hearing is well developed up here, so 
it’ll help if you move as quietly as 
possible.” 

“One moment.” Gerry Carlyle’s 
cool voice nailed Strike to the ground. 
“I want two things thoroughly under- 
stood. First, I’m the sole leader of 
this party, and what I say goes.” She 
smiled with icy sweetness. “No com- 
plaints, of course, Mr. Strike, but it’s 
just as well to forestall future mis- 
understandings. Secondly,^ you must 
know that the main object of this ex- 
pedition is to catch one or more Mur- 
ris and return with them alive. We’ll 
take a number of other interesting 
specimens, of course, but the Murri is 
our real goal.” 

She looked around challengingly, as 
if expecting a strange reaction. She 
was not disappointed. Strike glanced 
up at the porch, exchanged a signifi- 
cant look with Ransom. He smiled 
wryly. 

? Gerry Carlyle’s temper flared out 
momentarily. 

“What’s the mystery about this 
Murri, anyhow? Everywhere I go, on 
Venus, back on Earth among members 
of my own profession, if the word 
Murri is mentioned everyone immedi- 
ately looks at the floor and scowls and 
tries to change the subject! Why?” 

No one spoke. The Carlyle party 
shifted uneasily, their boots making 
sucking sounds. Presently Strike of- 
fered: 

“The fact is, you’ll never take back 
a Murri alive. But you wouldn’t be- 
lieve me if I told you the reason, Miss 
Carlyle. I—” 

“Why not? What’s the matter with 
’em? Is their presence fatal to a hu- 
man in some way?” 

“Oh, no.” 

“Are they so rare or so shy they 
can’t be found?” 

“No, I think I can find you some be- 
fore you take off.” 

“Then are they so delicate they can’t 
stand the trip? If so, I can tell you 
we’ve done everything to make hold 
No. 3 an exact duplicate of living con- 
ditions here?’ 



18 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



“No, it isn’t that, either,’’ Strike 
sighed. 

“Then what the devil is it?’’ she 
cried, “Why these evasions and secre- 
tive glances? You’re acting just like 
Hank Rop^ers did when I caught him 
one day m the Explorers’ Club. He 
came up here a whye back to get a 
good Murri specimen. But he re- 
turned empty-handed. I asked him 
why, and he refused to tell me. Acted 
actually embarrassed about some- 
thing, What’s it all about?’’ 

T ommy strike had no more stom- 
ach for feminine ridicule than the 
average many so he shook his head 
firmly. 

“It can’t be explained. Miss Carlyle. 
It’s just something you’ll find out for 
yourself.’’ 

And on that electric note of dissatis- 
faction, the party struck off .through 
the mist in search of the weird animal 
life of Venus. The half-dozen men 
from The Ark were surprised to find 
the going comparatively easy.. Al- 
though the great amount of water on 
Venus would presupjpose profuse jun- 
gle growth, there is insufficient sun- 
light to support much more than the 
tallest varieties of trees, which shoot 
hundreds of feet up into the curtain of 
the mist, their broad-bladed leaves 
spread wide to treasure every stray 
sunbeam that filters through. 

Undergrowth, which is confined to 
a sprawling, cactuslike shrub with poi- 
sonous spines,' and to a great many 
species of drably flowering plants 
with innumerable odors and perfumes, 
is laid out almost geometrically in 
order to catch the diluted sun^ine 
without interference from the occa- 
sional lonely trees. 

“The main danger in travel,” as 
Strike explained, “is in losing the 
beam. Sometimes we have to circle a 
bog, and we’ve got to be pretty careful 
not to lose that radio beam.” 

The party, with Strike and Gerry 
Carlyle in the lead, hadn’t been five 
minutes away from the station when 
the restless quiet was shattered by a 
terrific grunting arid coughing, like 
the roar of a thousand hogs at feeding 
time. The noise was intermittent, 
nunbling for a few seconds with sub- 



surface-car speed somewhere ahead, 
then stopping abruptly to be suc- 
ceeded by slopping and smacking 
sounds. 

The entire party was stricken' in its 
tracks for an instant at the blast of 
strange thunder. Not from fear, be- 
cause these people had met and bested 
nature’s most terrif)ring forms all over 
the Solar System; -but rather at the 
sudden unexpectedness of it, coming 
literally from out of nowhere. 

Strike grinned. 

“Shovel-mouth,” he explained. "Not 
very dangerous.” 

Gerry Carlyle glanced tolerantly at 
her guide at the Implication. 

“We prefer ’em dangerous, as a mat- 
ter of fact. Though I hardly expected 
to find anything interesting this close 
to — er — civilization.” 

Strike grinned at the thrust, and a 
little pringle of excitement crawled 
up his spine as he watched the Carlyle 
party slip into their smooth routine. 
The girl’s crisp commands detailed 
one man to remain with the bulky 
equipment. Two more loaded a pair of 
cathode-bolt giins that looked like 
baby cannon beside the pistol Strike 
carried for emergencies. 

Two of the others, including the 
girl,' selected weapons that looked 
very much like the old-fashioned 
riflesi to be seen now only in muse- 
ums, that fired lead or steel projecr 
tiles, except for a rather large bore 
and cumbersome breech. Barrows was 
to work the camera. 

“Allen,” Gerry snapped, “you circle 
around to the left. Kranz to the fight. 
As usual, hold your fire unless it’s’ab- 
solutely necessary to prevent the 
specimen’s escape. We’ll give you 
three minutes to get into position.” 

The two flankers were already mov- 
ing off into the mist when Strike 
woke up. 

“Wait!” he cracked out. "Comeback 
here. No one must get out of visual 
touch with me! It’s too easy to get 
permanently lost. Sounds carry far, 
naturally, but it’s impossible for an 
untrained ear to tell which direction 
they’re coming from in this fog.” 

, Gerry Carlyle’s eyes flashed in 
momentary anger as her - comriiands 
were countermanded, but the plan of 



THE HOTHOUSE PLANET 



19 



action stood as ahiended to permit the 
two flankers to remain within sight of 
the main body. 

S TRIKE had thought that Miss 
Carlyle’s assistants were rather a 
colorless lot, stooges automatically 
going through letter-perfect roles, 
and wondered if they’d be any good if 
they found themselves suddenly with- 
out a leader. But when the party 
spread out with military precision for 
the stalk. Tommy Strike had to admit 
to himself 'that he had never witnessed 
a more competent one. They were 
beautifully trained. 

Not a single unnatural soimd broke 
the quiet ; not a stick snapped, not a 
fungus squelched beneath an incauti- 
ous heel. Even the sucking noises 
from marshy spots were silenced. In 
sixty seconds they slipped into a little 
clearing and stood gazing with profes- 
sional curiosity at the doomed shovel- 
mouth. 

It was worth a second look. Fifty 
feet long and nearly twenty feet wide, 
it had three pairs of squat, powerful 
legs ending in enormously spatulate 
discs. Its hide was a thick, tough 
grey stuff that gleamed dully with a 
wet slickness in the half light. But 
the most surprising feature was the 
creature’s heed which, instead of tap- 
ering to a point, broadened into a 
mammoth snout that extended several 
feet horizontally from mouth-corner 
to mouth-comaf. When placed to the 
ground it had a ludicrous similarity 
to the fan-tail vacuum cleaner attach- 
ment used to clean upholstered furni- 
ture. 

The shovel-mouth stared at the 
party, uninterested, from out of mud- 
dy eyes, then lowered his head and 
waddled vigorously across the clear- 
ing, his mouth plowing up a wide, 
shallow furrow as he ate indiscrim- 
inately of the numerous fungi, low- 
lying bushes, sticks, and mud 
“Herbivorous,” Strike murmured. 
“Main article of diet is fungus 
growths, but it takes so much for a 
meal that he has to spend most of his 
waking hours eating everything he 
can get his mouth on.” 

Evidently the animal had been ,at it 
some time, for the clearing looked as 



if a drunken farmer had been trying 
to plow it up. Gerry signaled, and her 
men moved into position like soldiers. 
She slipped up on the creature’s blind 
side and aimed her curious rifle at the 
soft, inner portion of the shovel- 
mouth’s leg. Plopl The beast jerked, 
nipped at the wound momentarily, 
then continued to feed. In twenty sec- 
onds it reeled dizzily about and fell to 
the ground, unconscious. 

Just like that. Simple, efficient, no 
fuss at all. Tommy Strike felt a sense 
of anti-'cHmax. 

“What a disappointment,” he said 
ruefully. “I expected a terrific battle 
and a lot of excitement with maybe 
one or two of us half killed for the 
sake of the movies!” 

“With Mr. Strike heroically rescu- 
ing Gerry Carlyle from the jaws of 
death?” The girl smiled as Strike 
winced. “Sorry, but this is a business, 
Mr. Strike, and I find it pays to play 
safe and sane and preserve my men in- 
tact. I value ' them too much to risk 
their lives for the sake of a bunch of 
cheap-thrill seekers back home. No. 
We have excitement and adventure 
only whett someone makes a mistake. 
Carlyle parties make a minimum of 
mistakes.” 

It was the arrogant and cocksure 
Gerry Carlyle speaking then, and 
Strike let it go. “I suppose you used a 
sort of hypodermic bullet in that rifle 
of yours. But I thought you’d* be 
using more scientific weapons than 
that. It seems sort of — sort of primi- 
tive.” 

HE girl smiled. 

“I know. You’re wondering 
about the anaesthetic gases. Or the 
wonderful new paralysis ray. Well, 
there’s a lot of inventions that work 
fine under controlled lab conditions 
that are flops in the field. 'The paraly- 
sis ray is just a toy, totally imprac- 
ticable. It’s unreliable because each 
different animal requires a different 
amount of the ray to subdue him, and 
we seldom have time to fool around 
experimenting in my work. 

“it may also prove fatal if the vic- 
tim gets too much of a jolt. As for 
knockout gas, it necessitates the hun- 
ters wearing masks, and it, too, is dif- 




20 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



ficult to control in the proper doeages, 
between unconsciousness and death." 

Strike nodded understanding and 
turned to - receive still another sur- 
prise. While he and the girl talked, 
the party had prepared the motionless 
shovel-mouth for transportation back 
to The Ark, Broad bands of bluish 
metal had been fastened around legs 
and neck, and the men had even man- 
aged to slide two or three underneath 
the huge body and encircle it. 

Wires led from each piece of metal 
to a common source, a compact boxlike 
affair vaguely resembling a battery 
case with two dials on its face. A 
throw of a switch energized the metal, 
and gradually the mighty bulk of the 
shovel-mouth rose from the groimd. 
It hung there in the air, suspended, 
like one of those grotesque toy bal- 
loons; to tow it back to the ship would 
be a simple matter. 

“^nti-gravity !” said the girl with a 
theatrical flourish of the hand. “We 
give the metal bands a gravity charge 
of slightly more than one. Like 
charges repelling, they rise from the 
ground and carry the animal with 
them !” 

The equipment-bearer simply 
lashed a rope round his waist to pull 
the shovel-mouth along behind, and 
the party resiuned the hunt. 

“I think,” said Gerry Carlyle, “that 
we’re too likely to bump into some- 
thing in this mist unawares. If you’ll 
bring out the electronic telescope, Mr. 
Barrows — ” 

Barrows at once produced one of 
the most interesting gadgets that 
Strike had yet seen, a portable model, 
of course, of the apparatus used on all 
the modern centrifugal flyers. It con- 
sisted of a power unit carried by one 
of the men, and a long glass tube to be 
carried by the observer. The front of 
it presented a convex surface covered 
with photoelectric material to the 
electron streams of all kinds of light, 
from tiltra-violet to infra-red. 

As the light particles entered the 
tube, they passed through a series of. 
three electrostatic fields for focusing, 
and then through another field for 
magnification. At the rear of the tube 
they struck a fluorescent screen and 
reproduced the' image. Looking 



through the baby telescope gave the; 
impression of gazing down a tunnel in 
the mist for as far as the eye could 
reach. 

By keeping in constant touch with 
Ransom at the post, who kept the 
beam moving slowly around like the 
spoke of a wheel, Strike eitabled the 
party to move laterally. Through the 
telescope they picked up many of the 
smaller and shyer life-forms not or- 
dinarily seen — lizards, crawling 
shapes, crablike forms, even two or 
three of the scaly man-things native to 
Venus, slithering silently through the 
fog with sulky expressions on their 
not-tpo-intelligent fishlike faces. 
Strike and Gerry became so interested 
in watching through the ’scope that it 
was nearly their undoing. 

Without warning a rushing sound 
filled the air at their left, and a round 
grey ball rolled swiftly into view. It 
crossed their path dead ahead, pro- 
pelling itself with dozens of stout 
cilia that sprouted indiscriminately 
from all sides, then paused abruptly. 
The miniature fqrest of arms waved 
delicately and exploringly in the air 
as if trying to locate the source of a 
new disturbance. Then the fantastic 
thing rushed unerringly at the Carlyle 
party. 

LL the hunters leaped agilely 
aside and let the juggernaut roll 
past. It stopped a few yards^beyond 
with another waving, of cilia, as if lis-> 
tening intently. Gerry pumped a hy- 
podermic bullet at it, but the charge 
ripped glmcingly off the armourlike 
lorica. \ ^ 

“Rotifer," said Strike shortly. 
“Something like the tiny animalcules 
back on Earth, magnified many times 
and adapted for land travel. Venus is 
largely aqueous and was even more so 
at one time. Much of its terrestrial life 
developed from life-forms originally 
dwelling in the water — ” He stepped 
aside again, casually, as the rotifer 
rumbled by. “They have their uses, 
though. That half-hidden mouth of 
theirs takes in everything it contacts. 
They’re the scavengers of this planet. 
We call ’em Venitsian buzzards.” 

The party scattered for a third time 
as the blind devourer sought to catch 




THE HOTHOUSE PLANET 



21 



them once more. Barrows looked ap- 
pealingly at his leader. 

“They may have their uses,” ad- 
mitted the sub-pilot, “but this baby’ll 
be a damn’ nuisance if we have to 
spend the rest of the trip dodging 
him!” 

There was truth in that, so the roti- 
fer was despatched with a cathode 
bolt. But as they crowded around to 
examine this curious bit of protoplas- 
mic phenomena, a shrill scream racked 
their nerves from hig;h up in the fog, 
as frightfully shocking hs the shriek 
of a wounded horse. They swiveled 
about as a man to gaze upon the most 
terrifying of all products of Venusian 
vertebrate evolution. 

Fully fifty feet the mobster tow- 
ered into the mist, standing upright 
on two massive legs reminiscent of 
the extinct terrestrial Tyrannosaurus 
rex. A set of short forelegs were 
equipped with hideously lethal claws; 
the head was long and narrow like a 
wolf’s snout, with large ears and slav- 
ering fangs. Everything about the 
nightmare creature was constructed 
for efficient annihilation, particularly 
of those animals who mistakenly 
sought safety in the tops of the tall 
trees. 

“A ‘whip’l” yelled Strike, turning 
to the cathode-gxm carriers, sudden 
apprehension stabbing him deep. 
“It’s a whip ! Let ’im .have it, quick !” 

The men looked uncertainly at Ger- 
ry Carlyle, who promptly counter- 
manded the order. 

“Not so fast. I want this one alive. 
They’ve nothing like him in London.” 

She flipped up her rifle, fired at a 
likely spot. Strike groaned as the 
monstrous whip squealed shrilly again 
and again, staring down at the .7 
Earthlings from fiery little eyes. 
Thm from, that wolfish snout un- 
curled an amazing fifty-foot length of 
ruor-edged tongue, like that of an 
Earthly ant-eater. ' Straight at Gerry 
Carlyle it lashed out, qracking sharp- 
ly. Stnke’s rush cauglU^the girl from 
l^hind and dumped her gently but 
quickly to the spongy ^rth. 

“Curl up in a ball !” he yammered in 
her ear. “So he can’t get any purchase 
with that tongue I” 

Gerry obeyed', and Strike turned to 



warn the others as the whip swished 
over the girl’s ducking head. 

“Scatter!” he cried. "Don’t — ” 

But too late. That coiling sweep of 
flesh rope struck Barrows glancingly 
across the head, shearing off the lohie 
of one ear. Blood spurted as the sub- 
pilot staggered away with one hand to 
his face. 

The rest of th^ bearers darted alert- 
ly away in all directions, seeking the 
shelter of the fog. But the man who 
was burdened with the heavy equip- 
ment paused momentarily to shed 
himself of it. It cost him his life. 
Straight and sure that incredible 
tongue snaked out to wind itself 
around the man’s twisting form. Like 
a catapult he shot into the air toward 
the gaping, fanged jaws. 

T he fellow struggled, screaming 
like a madman. In vain. One arm 
was pinioned; he hadn’t a chance to 
defend himself. Before his surprised 
companions could bring their guns to 
bear on the whip, there was a swift 
crunch, a hideous splattering of crim- 
son stuff that looked bright and horri- 
ble against the drab background, and 
it was all over. The expeditionary 
force was reduced by one. 

All possibility of rescue being gone, 
the reserve gunners lowered their 
deadly guns and allowed the hunters 
to go about the job of subduing the 
monster. Little snapping reports 
sounded in rapid succession, three, 
four, five. And presently the whip 
reeled like a huge building in an earth- 
quake. Uncertainty racked the big 
body; it swayed. A few wavering 
steps described a short half circle. 
Then quietly it lay awkwardly down 
and p^sed liito insensibility. 

Strike clambered upright and pulled 
Gerry to her feet. He wiped cold 
sweat from his brow. 

“Whew! That was too damn’ close 
for comfort !” 

The girl brushed herself off and 
stared Strike in the eye. “Hereafter, 
Mr. Strike, please ren;ember that iii a 
real emergency such m this one of our 
cardinal rul^ is ejrery man for him- 
self. The principle of throwing'away 
two lives in a futile effort to save one 
is not encouraged among us. No more 



22 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



heroics, if you please !” 

Strike’s face flamed. No one likes 
to be bawled out when he’s expecting 
warm gratitude. But even more Strike 
was angry at the apparent callousness. 

“Then you don’t think much of your 
assistants,” he snapped, looking signif- 
icantly at the bloody muzzle of the 
whip. 

No emotion disturbed the serenity 
of the girl’s face. ^ 

“On the contrary. I regret Blciir’s 
passing ve^ much; he was a well- 
trained and valuable man. But he can 
be replacecj.” 

“Good God, woman!” cried Strike. 
“Haven’t you any feelings? A friend 
of yours has just been done to death 
horribly, on an alien planet, far from 
his home and family And you — ” 
He’ stopped suddenly ashamed of his 
outburst of sentiment. 

Gerry said simply, “We never sign 
on family men.” 

Then she turned her back to Strike 
and snapped orders to prepare the 
whip for transportation back to The 
Ark. But in the last tiny instant as 
she turned ,awayj Strike glimpsed 
something in her eye that ^mote him 
speechless with its sudden and com- 
plete revelation. It explained at once 
and absolutely the reason for Gerry 
Carlyle’s shell of impersonal reserve 
and callousness. She was a woman 
walking in a man’s world, speaking 
men’s language, using men’s tools. 

As a constant companion of men, 
she had to force herself to live their 
life, meet them on their own terms. 
To command their respect, she felt she 
had no right to usethe natural endow- 
ments — ^her charm and beauty — that 
nature intended her to use for that 
purpose. Indeed, she dared not use 
them, for fear' of the consequences. 
To give way to feminine emotion 
would be, she feared, to lose her dom- 
ination oyer her male subordinates. 
She was, in short, that most pathetic 
of h.eings — a woman who dared not be 
a woman. 

All this Tommy Strike learned and 
comprehended in a single glance. His 
feelings toward Gerry Carlyle began 
to change, from dislike to pity, and 
perhaps to something warmer. The 
thing he had seen was a woman’s tear. 



CHAPTER III 
The Murris 



^H’^HE succeeding days passed 
JB-swiftly and adventurously. Speci- 
men after weird specimen was sub- 
dued and carried to the rapidly filling 
hold of The Ark. The only fly in 
Strike’s ointment was the ever-ap- 
{iroaching hour when he must produce 
a Murri or face the wrath of Gerry 
Carlyle. And although he knew it was 
coming, still the demand came as a bit 
of a sl^ock on the beginning of the 
sixth day. 

“Mr. Strike.” Not once had the girl 
dropped her shield of formality. “I’ve 
been pretty patient with your re- 
peated side-tracking of my requests 
for a Murri. But our visit here’s about 
over; we leave in forty-eight hours. 
To remain over during a Venusian 
night would mean a tiresome and dan- 
gerous journey honie. Come on now. 
No more stalling.” 

Strike looked at the girl. 

“What- if I refused?” 

Gerry smiled glacially. “Your com- 
pany would hear about it at once. You 
were ordered to assist us in every tvay, 
you know.” 

Strike nodded, shrugged. 

“All right. Just a second while I — ” 

The rest of his sentence was lost ih 
a clatter of footsteps as Ransom came 
down the metal stairs with a curious 
piece of apparatus in his hands. 

“Thought you’d be needing this. 
Tommy,” he said significantly, with a 
disgusted glance at the girl. 

“Yeah. 1 sure do.” Strike fitted the 
contrivance to his body by shoulder 
straps. 

“Now -what?” Gerry .wanted to 
know, “Do you need special equip- 
ment to find a Murri? What’s that 
contraption for, anyhow?” 

Strike adopted a professorial atti- 
tude;. 

‘"The power unit of this ‘contrap- 
tion’ consists of a vacuum-tube oscil- 
lator and amplifier, md the receiver 
unit of an inductance bridge and vac- 
uum-tube amplifier. There’s also a set 
of headphones,” he held them up in 



THE HOTHOUSE PLANET 



23 



classroom style, “and an exploring 
coil. The bridge is energized by a 
sinusoidal current, brought to balance 
by appropriate resistance and induc- 
tance controls. If a conductive body 
comes within the artificially created 
magnetic field of the coil, eddy cur- 
rents set up in the conductive mass 
will reduce the effective inductance of 
the exploring coil, serving to unbal- 
ance the bridge. This condition is 
indicated in the headphones — ” 

“Stop! Stop!” Gerry covere'd her 
ears with her hands. “I know an ore- 
finding doodle-bug when I see one! I 
just wanted to know why you’re car- 
rying it with you now.” 

“Oh. For protection.” 

“Protection against what?” 

“The natives.’’ 

Gerry stared. “Natives! Those sca- 
ly, fish-faced rumn^ies that skulk 
around just out of sight in the fog? 
Why, those timid little things 
wouldn’t hurt us; they couldn’t. Be- 
sides, how’ll your doodle-bug protect 
us against them?” 

“Why, they’re very clever at hiding 
in the mist, and this metal indicator’ll 
reveal their presence if they get too 
close. You see, all the natives in this 
sector wear gold teeth!” 

Someone tittered, and Gerry 
flushed. 

“If you please, Mr. Strike, let’s stick 
to business and keep the conversation 
on an intellectual plane. A good joke 
has its place, but — ” 

“That’s no joke,” Strike said with a 
touch of bitterness. “It’s a fact; Ever 
since Murray made his first trip to 
Venus, the natives have gone for gold 
teeth in a big way. They took Murray 
for a god, you know, and emulated 
him in many ways. He had several 
gold teeth, relics of childhood dentis- 
try, so the natives promptly scraped 
up some of the cheaply impure gold 
.that’s found around here and made 
cap^ for their teeth. As for their not 
hurting us. Miss Carlyle, that remains 
to be seen. It has always meant 
trouble when one of you animal-catch- 
ers tries to mess around wdth the Af ur- 
n's. You’ll understand me better in a 
few minutes.” He shrugged with his 
eyebrows, “I’m just being prepared.” 



“'■B ATS ! Mystery, generalities, 
MB trouble! But no explanations! 
Your evasive hints of reasons not to 
touch the Munis just fascinate me all 
the more. I viiouldn’t drop the hunt 
now for all the radium on Callisto !” 
“All right,” Strike capitulated curt- 
ly. “Let’s go.” He struck off straight 
through the mist as if knowing exact- 
ly where he meant to go. In five 
minutes he halted before a mighty cy- 
cad peppered with twelve-inch holes 
which housed a colony of at least'fifty 
of the famous Munis. 

“There you are,” said Strike with 
resignation. "Pseudo-simia Muni.” 
Gerry completely forgot to be in- 
dignant at Strike’s holdout, as she was 
swept, away in the gale of merriment 
, that overcame the party at sight of the 
'strange creatures. Perhaps half of the 
colony were in constant motion, 
scrambling round and round the huge 
bole of the tree, up and down, popping 
in and out of their holes, out along the 
mighty froridlike branches and back, 
frantically. The others simply sat 
watching in solemn indifference, occa- 
sionally opening their pouting lips to 
ask sorrowfully, 

“Muni? Muni? Muni?” 

They were well named. Thofigh 
soft and greyish-brown, with Scanty 
hair growth on their backs, their size 
and antics did resemble terrestrial 
simians. With their tremendous nasal 
development, they looked much like 
the Proboscis monkey. And this very 
de Bergerac beak of a nose made their 
name even more appropriate, for Sid- 
ney Murray, Stanhope’s co-explorer, 
was famous throughout the System 
for having the hugest and ugliest nose 
extant. The Pseudo-simia Muni col- 
ony presented to the eyes of the fas- 
cinated watchers a hundred facial rep- 
licas of Sidney Murray spinning and 
dancing fantastically around the tree. 

“Oh!” gasped Gerry finally, wiping 
laughter’s tears from her cheeks. “Oh, 
but this is precious! Who— who 
named them?” She struggled might- 
ily with a series of bubbling chuckles. 
Strike looked lugubriously at her. 
“Murray himself named ’em. He has 
quite a sense of humor.” 

“Serise of hiundr ! Oh, it’s colossal !” 
She took a deep breath. “What a sen- 



24 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



sation a dozen of these cute little but- 
terballs will make in London ! What 
a prize!” 

“You haven’t got ’em in London 
yet,” Strike -pointed out, keeping one 
uneasy eye on the indicator of his 
“doodle-bug.” 

‘Tf you think anything’s going to 
stop me now, you don’t yet know Ger- 
ry Carlyle!” Again the arrogant, self- 
willed woman. 

They moved up to the cycad^and ex- 
amined the M arris at closer quarters. 
They were quite tame. The close in- 
spection revealed three facts of inter- 
est. The firs.t was the presence of a 
short, prehensile tail equipped with a 
vicious-appearing sting near the tip. 

“Only a weak defense mechanism,” 
Strike explained it, “as Harris live al- 
most exclusively on the datelike fruits 
of the tree they live in. The sting’s no 
worse than a bee-rsting.” He extended 
one knotty forearm, showing a small 
pock-mark where he had once been 
stung. 

The second was the large brown 
eyes possessed by the Murri, which 
stared at the intruders imblinkingly 
with a heart -wringing, h3rpnotic ex- 
pression of sorrow. 

“They look as if they’d seen all the 
trouble and woe in the Universe,” as 
Barraws put it. “Makes me feel like a 
louse*^ to take ’em away from their 
home !” 

The third was a heap of strangely 
incongruous junk piled at the base of 
the big tree. There were cheap clocks, 
gewgaws, matches, children’s fire- 
works, odds and ends. 

“Offerings by the natives,” ex- 
plained Strike. “That’s the legal ten- 
der up here; medicinal weeds and 
rough gems in exchange for — these 
things.” He gestured at the pile of 
trash. “Anything firerproducing is 
especially valuable. The Murri is the 
native’s god. Because of his resem- 
blance to Sidney Murray, the First 
God.” 

T here jvas more laughter,, but 
subdued this time as the party 
realised that removing one or more 
M arris wb^d be to commi|t Venusian 
sacrilege. “I see now what you meant 
by ‘causing trouble’,” Gerry said. “But 



it can’t be too much for you to handle.. 
It’s happened before, I assume, and 
always blew oyer. These primitivesT- 
If that’s your only reason for dissuad- 
ing us to capture a few — ” 

“That’s not the only reason.” But 
Strike would explain no further. 

“More mystery!” Gerry snorted, 
and supervised the set-up of a big net 
under one of the longer overhanging 
branches. Then two well-directed 
shots snapped the limb and catapulted 
a half dozen astonished Harris into 
the net. With incredible agility most 
of them bounced into the air and 
scrambled to safety. But one was 
caught in the tricky nveshes. The ends 
of the net were quickly folded to- 
gether to form a bag. 

“Got him!” exulted Gerry. “Why, 
that was easy !” 

“Sure. But he isn’t in London Zoo 
yet, nor even back to the ship.” 

Gerry gave Strike a withering look, 
then peered into the net. The Murri 
lay quiescent, staring up with enor- 
mously round-eyed amazement. 

“Murri-murri-murri?’’ 

Gerry laughed again at this fmtas- 
tic miniature of the great Murray, 
mumbling earnestly to himself. “Back 
to The Ark, bofys,” she cried. “We’ll 
have a lot of fqn with this little 
dickens!” 

The party turned to retrace its 
steps, and then trouble broke out for 
fair. When the Murri had been re- 
moved about ten yards from its home 
tree, a violent fit of trembling seized 
him. He screamed shrilly two or three 
times, and from the Murri tree came a 
hideous shrieking clamor in response. 

The little captive burst into a flurry 
of wild activity, struggling with unbe- 
lievable fury to escape. He twisted, 
clawed, spat, bit. As the carriers bore 
him inevitably further away from his 
hqme, he seemed to go absolutely mad, 
stinging himself repeatedly with 
barbed tail in an. outburst of insane 
terror. After a series of heart-rending 
cries of- despair, he gave a final fren- 
zied outburst that ended with a gout 
of pale, straw-colored blood from his 
mouth. 

The entire party stopped to stare 
appalled at the little creature. Gerry 
Carlyle’s shell of reserve was punc- 



THE HOTHOUSE PLANET 



25 



tured; she looked badly shaken. It 
was some moments before she could 
force herself to open the net and ex- 
amine the quiet little body. 

“Dead,” she pronounced, though 
everyone knew it. “Internal hem- 
orrhage. Burst a blood vessel.” 

Strike answered her bewildered 
glance with melancholy triumph. 

“Agoraphobia. Murris are the most 
pronounced agoraphobes in the Sys- 
t«n. They spend their whole lives on 
and around the particular tree in 
which they’re born. Take ’em a few 
yards away and they have a nervous 
breakdown ending in Convulsions and 
death.” He indicated the dead body in 
the net. “I could have told you, but 
you wouldn’t have believed me. You’d 
have come to find out for yourself 
anyhow." 

Gerry shook herself like a fluffy dog 
that has just received an unexpected 
ice-water shower. 

“So that’s what you meant when you 
said I’d never bring one back alive, is 
it?” 

“Partly.” 

“Partly I You mean there’s some- 
thing else queer about these — ” 

Strike nodded gloomily. 

“You’ll find out before long. I know 
what you’re going to do.- Capture an- 
other. Cut off his tail so he can’t sting 
himself; Tie him up like a Christmas 
package so he can’t move hand or foot. 



Anything to keep him from killing 
himself by struggling. Right?” 

“Right 1” Gerry determined. 

“Rogers tried all that when he was 
here, yet he failed.” 

“And so?” 

Strike shrugged. 

“So you’ll fail, too. But don’t let 
me stop — ” 

“You won’t stop me, Mr. Strike. 
Don’t ever think it 1” 

Together with Kranz, the girl rig- 
ged up two makeshift strait-jackets to 
hold the captive Murris rigidly un- 
moving. Mea.iwhile, the other hunt- 
ers spread the big net again and shot 
down another branchful of the curious 
Murris. The healthiest pair were 
quickly strapped up tightly, and the 
party left to the accompaniment of a 
terrific yapping and hissing and yam- 
mering from the survivors of the 
colony. 

Strike and Ransom spent the re- 
mainder of the lingering Venusian 
day resting from their exertions. 
Activity in that vicious climate quick- 
ly sapped the most rugged strength, 
and Strike particularly felt drained of 
all energy. 

As the light imperceptibly faded. 
Ransom suggeste'd, “I guess The Ark 
will be leaving soon. Now’s the best 
time for ’em to take off. Conjunc- 
tion.” 

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26 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



Strike shook his head. 

“No. That tough little wench Car- 
lyle is over there in her ship learning 
a mighty bitter lesson. She won’t 
leave now; and she won’t leave for 
some time,” he predicted. “Wait and 
see.” But only to himself did he ad- 
mit the fingers of secret joy that 
squeezed his heart to breathlessness at 
the thought of seeing that incredible 
girl again. 



CHAPTER IV 
The Stolen Shrine 



TRIKE was right. As the absolute 
Cj? darkness of Venusian night drag- 
ged its black cloak over the trading 
post, light footsteps ran up the' stairs 
outside. Knuckles rapp^ on the 
metal door. > 

Ransom opened. There was still 
warmth in the thick air ; it was almost 
pleasant at that hour. Gerry Carlyle 
pushed in. 

“Mr. Strike,” she said, and there was 
a worried crease between her eyes, 
“neither of the Mum's will eat. We 
can’t , force anything down their 
throats. And if we free them, immedi- 
ately they have one -of those terrible 
fits!” 

Strike shrugged. “So why come to 
me?” 

“Can’t you suggest anything to do? 
They’ll starve themselves to death. 
And dead Murris have no market 
value. I’ve sworn I wouldn’t return 
without at least one healthy Murri, so 
you’ve got to help me!” 

“Nobody can do anything. You’ll 
never take them back alive. I told you 
that before; presently you’ll believe 
it. If there’s any mercy in you, you’ll 
return those two to their home while 
the}r’re well.” ' 

Gerry’s eyes flashed blue fire. 

“I’m trying to be merciful without 
compromising my conscience! If 
humanly possible, I’m taking those 
Murris home' alive! Now,' if you’ll 
only help — We’re going to try feed- 
ing through a stomach tube. If that 
fails, with injections. I thought you’d 



be able to help us in the food selec- 
tion.” 

“It’s hopeless. Rogers tried that, 
too. When you take a Murri away 
from its home, he imdergoes such a 
nervous shock that his metabolism 
goes completely haywire. He just 
can’t assimilate anything.” 

/Gerry went away furious, but was 
back within twenty-four hours. She 
was beginning to show the strain ; her 
hair was awry, eyes bagged and blood- 
shot from lack of sleep. Her nerves 
were jumpy. “Strike,’' she begged, 
“can’t you suggest anything? The5r’re 
growing thinner by the hour ! You can 
see them waste away! If you’ve been 
holding something back just to — ^to 
discipline me. I’ll say ‘imcle’. Only 
please — ” 

Strike seized the chance to turn the 
knife in the wound. 

“You flatter yourself if you think 
I’d sacrifice even a couple of Murris 
for the sake of softening you a little.” 

But ^the thrust missed its mark. 
Gerry was lost within herself, ab- 
sorbed in her battle to bend two in- 
significant caricatures to her will. 
“Damn them!” she flared. “They’re 
doing this to spite me ! But I’ll make 
’em live ! I’ll wake ’em live !” 

Forty-eight hours later she was 
back again, hanging frantically to 
Strike’s sturdy arm. The Murris’ 
silent martyrdom had broken her com- 
pletely. She was a nervous wreck. 

5^ “Tommy,” she wailed. “I can’t 
stand it any longer ! They just sit 
there, so helpless, so frail, vvithout a 
sound, and stare, at me. Those pathet- 
ic brown eyes follow me wherever I 
go. They — they’re mesmerizing me. 
I see them in darkness; I see them in 
my dreams, when I manage to get 
to sleep, ft’s pitiful — and horrible. 
Even the crew goes around now with 
silent accusation in their faces. I 
can’t stand it any longer!” 

Strike’s heart went out to this be- 
wildered little girl, needing a man’s 
comfort but not knowing how to get 
it. 

“You see now why Rogers and the 
others wouldn’t talk about their ex- 
perience with the Murris? Why I said 
you wouldn’t believe me even if I told 
you?” 



THE HOTHOUSE PLANET 



27 



“Yes. I understand. Rogers was 
ashamed to admit what he thought 
was a weakness. Embarrassed to have 
anyone think a funny little Venusian 
mbnkey could soften him up by just 
staring at him with those hypnotic 
brown, eyes.” She shuddered. “I — I 
sent the boys out to find that tree and 
dig it lip whole; Mum's and all, to 
transport back to earth. I thought 
that might solve the difficulty. But I 
see now it wouldn’t — ” 

®®YMTHAT!” Strike roared in 
viA!/ sudden apprehension. The 
fools! Not content with stealing away 
the natives’ local gods, now they in- 
tended to desecrate the whole shrine ! 
“Out there in the darkness? It’s sui- 
cide!” 

Strike leaped for his furs and heat- 
ing pads, dressing quickly for a sortie 
into the bitter Venusian night. Gerry 
looked surprised. 

“How do you mean? Are they in 
danger?” 

“The natives have brought nothing 
here for trading in the last seventy 
hours,” he returned grimly. “That 
means trouble. Plenty !” 

“But surely they’re not out at night ! 
The temperature — ” 

“Doesn’t affect them. They evolved 
from an aqueous life-form and like it 
cold. Fewer natural dangers for ’em 
at night, too.” 

He strapped on the gold-detector 
and radio receiver, strode for the door. 
“You stay here ... Roy ! Get the beam 
working!” He seized a light and 
barged out. 

Gerry’s mouth thinned out as she 
slipped her fur cape over her head and 
determinedly followed Strike down 
the stairway. There was a brief argu- 
ment ending with Strike’s angry ca- 
pitulation. 

“We can’t debate it now. At least 
make yourself useful ; carry this.” He 
handed her the powerful searchlight, 
and they moved off together. 

A new world was revealed in the 
gleaming swath of the light, every- 
thing covered with a thick frost, ut- 
terly lifeless and still. Each breath 
was a chill knife in their lungs. In 
the intense quiet they heard the faint 



sounds of the work party hard at the 
task of removing the Murri tree. 

A quick run brought them to the 
clearing. Stationary lights made a 
ring about the workers, who had al- 
ready fastened anti-gravity plates to 
the tree, and who were loosening the 
frozen soil. Strike’s voice rang out 
through the thick plume of his breath. 

“Stop work, men! Grab your tools 
and beat it back — ” He paused. The 
needle on the detector’s dial was jerk- 
ing spasmodically. 

“Quick!” yelled Strike. “The na- 
tives are close by! Run for it !” 

But the work party, blinded by the 
lights, gaped stupidly about and called 
out questions. Strike ran at them, 
furiously shouting, but the words 
were, jammed in his teeth as he wit- 
'-nessed an incredible sight. One by one 
the members of the digging party 
were falling, wriggling and twisting 
amazingly. 

One of them thrust his feet straight 
into the air and made grotesque walk- 
ing motions. Another dug his face 
into the dirt trying to walk right 
down through the earth. The only one 
remaining upright turned round and 
round in tight little circles like a 
pirouetting ice-skater. 

“Good heavens!” cried Gerry un- 
steadily. “What’s wrong with them?” 

Strike seized her about the waist. 
“Gas ! Don’t breathe ! The natives get 
it from one of these devilish Venusian 
plants. Gets into the nervous system. 
Localizes in the semi-circular canals. 
Destroys th6 sense of balance!” He 
started back through the mist toward 
the station. 

But with the third step Strike’s 
world reeled sickeningly about him. 
He dropped the girl, fighting desper- 
ately with outstretched arms for bal- 
ance. The ground heaved beneath 
him. Wherever he strove to put his 
feet, it seemed successively to be the 
sky, the perpendicular bole of a tree, 
nothingness. 

His eyes began to throb intolerably. 
Terrible nausea shook him, and he 
retched violently several times. He 
thrashed about st> wildly in his efforts 
to stand upright^.that his equipment 
was scattered helfer^skfelter about the 
clearing, much of it smashed. 



28 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



S TRIKE forced himself to lie 
quietly while the visible world 
rocked like a storm-lashed ship. He 
was conscious of the frightened yells 
of the stricken workmen, a rush of 
feet, the. monosyllabic squeaks and 
rasps of the Venusians whose gill-like 
breathing s^tem . filtered out all the 
poisonous elements of the atmosphere. 
Then Gerry’s startled scream knifed 
his consciousness. Just one outcry, no 
more; Gerry’s pride would permit no 
begging for help. But the sounds of 
her aimless struggling were plain as 
she was carried away. 

Strike sat up. His smarting eyes 
took in a confused blur of moving fig- 
ures. The man who had been standing 
was down now, a literal pin-cushion 
bristling with poison-dipped native 
spears. Already the body was bloat- 
ing. None of the others, apparently, 
were injured. Then the horrid vomit- 
ing welled up in Strike’s throat, and 
he rolled over to be sick again. 

But Strike, on the extreme edge of 
the clearing, had inhaled only a little 
of the gas. He lay with his face close 
to the frozen earth, breathing cauti- 
ously, testing every lungful for tell- 
tale odors, then exhaling vigorously. 
Gradually the earth slowed its spin- 
ning as the stuff worked off. Strike 
became conscious of a splitting head- 
ache, as if every nerve-ending in his 
skull was raw and throbbing. But as 
he took in the scene’ before him, all 
thought of his own discomfort van- 
ished in the wave of horror that swept 
over him. 

The natives were out for revenge, 
and golden-haired Gerry Carlyle was 
the intended victim! 

Strike had underestimated the na- 
tives’ intelligence. Smarter than he 
had thought, they recognized some>' 
how in the anti-cavity plates fastened 
to the tree trunk the greatest threat to 
the M arris. Further, their sluggish 
wits had puzzled out cause and effect, 
and had gone unerringly to the con- 
trol unit with its deadly switch, ready 
to unleash its incalculable power with 
the touch of a finger. 

Gerry lay in a limp bimdle on the 
ground, jerking now and then. About 
her slim body were clumsily fixed at 



least a half dozen of the anti-gravity 
plates. And the leader of the Venus- 
ians was bending over the switch. 

Strike started up in a frenzy, yell- 
ing. Rubbery knees promptly sent 
him to the again. Not yet. No 

strength. He whispered a prayer for 
something to delay that outstretched 
native finger hovering over the power 
unit. Perhaps he would rnove it the 
wrong way, and — But Strike went 
cold all over at the thought. He 
wasn’t sure, but wouldn’t that smash 
Gerry into a bloody pulp, grind her 
into a shapeless mess against the 
earth ? 

Strike began to crawl grimly toward 
the lighted circle and the pile of weap- 
ons belonging to the disarmed work 
party. It was faTj top far. He’d never 
make it. He paused to be sick again, 
less violently this time. His head was 
clearing rapidly, but too late. He had 
to delay things, somehow. 

Strike’s hand bumped against his 
pocket, dipped in and swiftly out 
again holding his pipe. Still half full 
of tobacco. He snatched out a lighter 
and applied the Same, sucking vigor- 
ously, fighting the giddiness, blowing 
great clouds of pungent smoke all 
about him. The pipe dropped from 
nerveless fingers, and he hunched 
down in a prayerful attitude, hoping, 
waiting tensely. Had he failed? 

Zin-n-ng! Plock! It worked ! Strike 
ducked and curled up into as small a 
ball as possible. In a split second the 
air resounded with the shrill whines 
of hundreds of the tiny whiz-bang 
beetles, armor-protected against the 
cold, as they hurtled in a aloud to the 
source of their favorite scent. Few 
flew low enough to hit Strike, and 
those were glancing blows that simply 
left red welts across his back. "'He saw 
perfectly the entire scene as his 
unwitting allies, the whiz-baigs, 
stormed into the clearing. 

I T was as if someone had loosed a 
series of shotgrm charges at the 
natives. The leader of the Venusians 
dropped as if cathoded when several 
of the- armored beetles rifled into his 
most vulnerable spot, the throat. The 
night rattled with the sodden plimk- 



THE HOTHOUSE PLANET 



29 



ing of living projectiles into scaly 
flesh. The natives set up a hideous, 
thin wailing. They ducked ; they 
flailed about them with vigorous futil- 
ity. And finally they broke and ran 
wildly away into the dark, dropping 
even their weapons in their flight. 

For a while the whiz-bangs zoomed 
back and forth across the clearing, but 
eventually they, too, vanished as 
Strike’s now-buried pipe gave forth 
no more enticing scents. Presently 
Strike stood up, brushed himself off, 
and grinned. This was his moment! 
Like a conquering hero he strode into 
the clearing to gaze on the devastation 
that had been wrought. 

The workmen were still prone, sen- 
sibly waiting for the effects of the gas 
to wear off. Gerry leaned like an old 
rag against the tree, staring with 
dazed, frightened eyes at her deliv- 
erer. Her fingers trembled so that 
Strike had to help her imfasten the 
anti-gravity plates. 

She tried to stand erect, but her 
knees betrayed her and she fell into 
Strike’s ready embrace. He tried to 



look stern. 

“Well, young lady, I trust you've 
learned two lessons this night. One, 
that even a Gerry Carlyle can’t always 
have her way. Especially with the 
Murris. Two, that a mere man, even if 
only to make an 'Occasional unwanted 
sacrifice, can sometimes come in pret- 
ty handy!’’ 

Gerry Carlyle became acutely con- 
scious of her position and she tried to 
free herself, with no great earnest- 
ness, Strike laughed. She turned a 
furious crimMn, and he laughed at her 
again. 

“Simply a vaso-motor disturbance,” 
she explained frigidly. 

“Is that what you call it? I rather 
like it. I want to see more.” Strike 
kissed her, and Gerry’s vaso-motor 
system went completely ha5rwire. 

From far up in the invisible 
branches of the Murri-tree, one of its 
inhabitants, disturbed by the night’s 
hullabaloo, leaned out and inquired 
sleepily through his nose : 

“Murri? Marri-murri-murri?" 



IN THE NEXT ISSUE 
A MONJH A MINUTE 
A Novelette of Time and Space 
By RALPH MILNE FARLEY 

—AND MANY OTHER UNUSUAL NOVELEtTES AND STORIES 








e No wonder this smooth-shaviog blade 
is such a big hit with men who want 
real shaving conlfort at. a low.price. 
Probak Jr., product of the world’s larg- 
est maker, whisks off bristles quickly. 






package of Probak )r. today! 






^ - 











The SPACE-TIME- 




¥ UBBY sat with his hands folded 
on his bulging middle, listening 
to the learned professor who was 
haranguing an intent . little audience 
from his place on the rostrum. 

“A light-year,” the professor was say- 
ing, “is the astronomical unit of dis- 
tance. It is the distance light travels in 
a year — roughly 186,000 miles a second, 
multiplied by 31,557,600, which is the 
number of seconds in a year.- That gives 
a total of — ” 

The man beside Tubby twitched at 
his arm. 

“Tubby, what’s he talkin’ about?” 
“Shut up,” Tubby whispered fiercely. 
“You’re right,” murmured the man 



another seat beyond. “How can he get 
educated when he won’t stay shut up?” 
“ — and that’s a light-year,” the pro- 
fessor was saying. 

“But how’s he know that?” the first 
man murmured. “I ast you, Tubby, 
how’s he know — ” 

"Shut up,” Tubby repeated. “Per- 
fessbrs know everything.” 

“Sir Isaac Newton,” the professor 
was saying, “developed a very ingen- 
ious theory of the mathematical laws 
that govern our Universe. But now 
we have Albert Einstein. The New- 
tonian theories are outmoded. The 
modern concepts of Albert Einstein, in 
his basic postulates upon which are 



Sir liooc Verime Discovers the World of 








built ^is general and special theories of 
relativity — ” 

The professor’s voice droned on. 
Tubby sat listening carefully. He was 
a little sorry that he had eaten so many 
olives for dinner. He pressed his folded 
hands more tightly upon the region 
where the olives nowwere rolling, like 
a game of marbles, bumping each other. 
Sir Isaac Newton discovered the laws 
of gravity . . that attraction varies 
inversely as the square of the light- 
years. No, that was wrong. Newton 
was a dead-head an3rway, because Ein-, 
stein now had a new theory — 

Abruptly Tubby felt a hand prodding 
at the back of his neck. He swung 



around. 

“Hey, quit that,” he protested. 

The lecture- hall was so dark Tubby 
could hardly see the man behind him. 

“I’m sorry,” the man whispered. “I 
didn’t want to annoy you. If you’ll 
come outside just a minute — it’s very 
important.” 

They both had aisle seats. The man 
stood up, pulling gently at Tubby’s 
arm. Tubby saw now that he was a 
very small, thin man in a black alpaca 
suit. 

“I do wish you’d cotne,” he added. 
His voice was horribly sad; his enor- 
mous Adam’s apple bobbed up and 
down in his scrawny throat which was 










d 







31 





32 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



encircled by a soft collar and flowing 
tie. 

“You’re in trouble?” Tubby mur- 
mured. He shoved himself pantingly 
into the aisle. They went to the door. 

“My feelings are hurt,” the man was 
whispering. “You heard what he said 
—Sir Isaac outmoded—” 

They stood in a little entrance. The 
light disclosed the stranger now. Tubby 
thought he had never seen so tragic a 
face before. It was long and very thin. 
A wisp of scragged brown-white hair 
was above it. 

Tubby felt sympathetic. 

“You’re feelings are hurt? That’s too 
bad—” 

“I knew you’d console me,” the 
stranger said. He brightened at once. 
“That’s why I wanted you to come with 
me. 

His big sad eyes were tr3ring to smile. 
He was a pathetic little fellow. Beside 
him, Tubby’s two hundred pounds of 
bulk loomed stalwart and comforting. 

“Cheer up,” Tubby said. “Ain’t no 
use crying. Where we goin’? What’s 
your name?” 

“Sir Isaac,” the stranger said. “Sir 
Isaac Newton Wells Verne.” He 
paused, with a gentle sad dignity. 

“Oh,” said Tubby. “Pleased to meet 
you.” 

“So you see,” Sir Isaac said, “why 
my feelings are hurt. There was a time, 
not so many years ago, when people 
realized that I knew all about every- 
thing.” His bony hand gestured depre- 
catingly. “Everything about science, I 
mean. My theories of the laws of grav- 
ity — my books describing strange ad- 
ventures in space — visits to the moon — 
Have you ever read my book, ‘The First 
Men in the Moon’?” 

“I ain’t read it but I heard of it,” 
Tubby said. 

IR ISAAC’S sad face was wanly 
smiling. 

“Of course you have. That was as- 
tronomical. And then I wrote another 
book — ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Un- 
der the Sea’ — that explained the won- 
ders of our own oceans. And I wrote — ” 

“I heard of it,’’ Tubby said. “You 
ain’t got no cause to be sad, Perfessor.” 

“No. I realize that.” .Sir Isaac’s little 
figure straightened. “You’re very com- 



forting. I knew you would be.” His 
sad eyes were darting fire now. “But 
when I think of what I have done for 
the advancement of science — and this 
fellow Einstein comes and tries to take 
the credit away from me — it just makes 
me boil over with anger.” 

“Me too,” Tubby agreed. “Don’t let’s 
stand it, Perfessor. Did you say we was 
goin’ somewhere?” 

“On a long journey,” Sir Isaac said. 

“I knew you’d want to help me. I don’t 
wanL to go alone — I can’t manage 
things.” 

“An’ I can,” Tubby said. “That’s 
fine.” 

“I’m going to gather material for my 
next book,” Sir Isaac explained. They 
had left the lecture hall how and were 
walking rapidly along a dim street. “I’ll 
show this Albert Einstein that 7’m the 
one who knows all about everything — ” 
“Sure,” Tubby panted. “We’ll show 
him we’re the ones who knows all about 
. everything. Don’t walk so fast, Per- 
fessor. You got me all out of breath.” 
“Here’s my vehicle,” Sir Isaac said 
abruptly. 

The thing stood behind a fence in the 
middle of ah empty lot. It was a big, 
white cylindrical object the size of a- 
small house. 

“My space-time-size vehicle,” Sir 
Isaac added proudly as they ap- 
proached. 

Tubby gazed at it with awe. 

“What’s it do, Perfessor?” 
“Everything,” Sir Isaac said. “It is 
the’ perfect vehicle. I invented it. I’m 
going to tell the world about it in at 
least a dozen books, when we get back 
from this trip.” 

“To where, Perfessor?” 

There was awe in Sir Isaac’s, voice, 
as. he spoke. 

“We are going,” he said, “up through 
size gigantic, through vast eras of fu- 
ture time to the end of space.” 

Tubby pondered it. 

“Seems like quite a trip, Perfessor.” 
They had passed through a doorslide 
and were in a dim glowing room of the 
vehicle. Tubby saw intricate banks of 
dials and levers, a perfect maze of in- 
struments. The ship certainly seemed 
ready to start. Tubby could feel the^ 
floor vibrating, and he heard the low 
throb of the idling mechanisms. 




THE SPACE-TIME-SIZE MACHINE 



33 



“It is indeed quite a trip,” Sir Isaac 
agreed. “But it won’t take us long — 
I mean, the time-distance \vill be bil- 
lions and billions of years, but it won’t 
seem long to us.” 

“Well, that’s good,” Tubby com- 
mented. He told himself this place 
didn’t look very comfortable for a long 
journey, but there was no use hurting 
Sir Isaac’s feelings by saying so. 

Sir Isaac gestured. 

“You sit here by this glassite bull’s- 
eye, so you can see everything.” 

He locked the door. Tubby gripped 
the metal liandles of his chair as Sir 
Isaac rapidly pressed and twirled a se- 
quence of little buttons and dials. 

Tubby felt a shock ; a queer sense of 
lightness in his head as though he had 
just had several drinks in rapid suc- 
cession. Then the feeling passed. He 
found Sir Isaac standing over him. 
“You’re all right?” 

“I — I ain’t sure, but I guess so,” 
Tubby gasped. 

Sir Isaac looked relieved. 

“Things sometimes go wrong,” he 
admitted. “We’re started now. I won’t 
describe all the intricate wonders of 
my apparatus — you’ll find all that sort 
of thing in my books. But I will tell 
you that I have gravity and anti-gravity 
plates to propel us through space — ” 

H e was suddenly talking very fast 
and glibly. 

“And inside my vehicle here I main- 
tain normal Earth-gravity always. Also 
normal air-pressure of 16.1 pounds per 
square inch — temperature 70° Fahren- 
heit. Our air is renewed by the Reiset 
and Regnaut system of producing pxy- 
gen from chlorate of potassium and the 
removal of carbonic acid gas with chlor- 
ate of potash. I consider it the best sys- 
tem of its kind. It ought to be. I in- 
vented it. I’ve written about it a lot.” 
“Oh,” said Tubby. 

He was staring through the window. 
The empty lot seemed to have van- 
ished; there was nothing in sight but 
stars. 

“Are we pretty high up already?” 
Tubby asked. “Where’s the ground?” 
“Don’t be silly,” Sir Isaac reproved. 
He consulted seven or eight of the 
whirling dials. “Relative to Earth- 
dimensions, we have now gqne 8,563,- 



002 miles. Earth miles, that is.” Again 
his words were coming with a smooth, 
glib rush. “In time, we have passed 
through 782, centuries. And in siee we 
are growing gigantic. We are now — at 
this exact iristant — ” He peered 
closely at a rigid dial. “We are now 
968 times our original size. Of course 
the rate of change is in geome^ical 
progression. Wait — ” He consulted 
the dial again. “It’s now 1936 times — 
just double, you see. It will be four 
times that in a few seconds more.” 

He paused, panting slightly from 
lack of breath. 

“We’re gettin’ pretty big, ain’t we, 
Perfessor?” Tubby ventured, after 
another silence. “Am I right?” 

“You are. indeed,” Sir Isaac agreed 
beamingly. “But our change so far in 
space-time-size is infinitesimal com- 
pared to what is coming. Now — there 
you can see the Solar System nicely. 
It’s just come into view as I swung our 
course. We’ve gone now quite a little 
distance — by Earth-(fimensions, mil- 
lions and millions of miles.” 

Tubby bent closer to the window. Up 
and down and sideward there was noth- 
ing but a black velvet sky studded with 
stars that were pin-points of light. 

“Solar System?” he murmured. 

“Yes. Our sun with its little group of 
planets — Earth, Mars, Venus and so 
on. See it?” 

Tubby made it out at last. The sun 
was the brightest star ; Earth was green 
and Mars was reddish; Saturn was ir- 
idescent, with a ring like a hat-brim. 
And as he staged, the tiny cluster was 
dwindling, getting further, Sway — 

Then he gasped, “Say, Perfessor — 
it don’t look so far away at that. It just 
looks small.” 

His viewpoint quite suddenly had 
changed. The vehicle floating in the 
void — with Sir Isaac and himself in it 
— now seemed gigantic, surrounded by 
tiny worlds, not very far away. It was 
as though, half a mile from where they 
were, the sun. Earth and the rest of 
them were actually no bigger than 
peas. 

“Quite right,” Sir Isaac agreed. 
“We’fe growing so fast we can’t ever 
get far away from them. We have to 
move fast through space or we wouldn’t 
have enough room.” He sighed. “It’s 



34 



THRILLING WONDER. STORIES 



so crowded in here — when we get be- 
yond the Milky, Way things are more 
open. There’s Alpha Centauri. It’s one 
of, the very closest stars to our Earth, 
only about 25,000,000,600,000 miles 
aw^ — 4.35 light-years, to be exact. 
,Weil be above and beyond it pres- 
ently.” 

Tubby stared. Now he could see 
movement to the scene. The whole vast 
abyss and all the pinpoints of light were 
dwindling, shrinking together with a 
crawling motion. 

IR ISAAC explained it. 

“Our size-^ange causes most of 

it—” 

“As we get bigger, everything else 
looks smaller,” Tubby interrupted. 
“Am I right?” 

“Yes,” Sir Isaac nodded. “And our 
time-change — a thousand Earth-years, 
it’s only a second of time to us now. 
Look at that binary — those two stars 
rotating around each other — rotating 
around a common center of gravity. 
With time speeded up this w^, you can 
see them spinning like two balls on the 
end of a string.” -- 

Tubby saw them, but they were 
swept away into smallness in a mo- 
ment. What an amazing motion was 
everywhere to be seen now! Star clus- 
ters, spiral nebulae, came whirling for- 
ward; passed to the sides of the ship 
and were gone., Great universes of 
worlds, like clouds of luminous star- 
dust, approached and shrank and dwin- 
dled to a puff of cigarette smoke to 
vanish into nothingness. 

Then all at once it seemed as though 
no more stars were ahead. Behind and 
under the window, all the specks were 
congealing into one cloud. And it 
didn’t seem to recede — just to dwindle. 

Tubby took a loijg breath. 

“Welt” he murmured, “that was ex- 
citin’ while it lasted. An’ now what, 
PerfesBor?” 

Sir Isaac leaned toward him. 

"The time has come,” he said, “when 
I must tell you my big secret. That man 
Albert Einstein — ” Sir Isaac’s eyes 
flashed. 

“He’s out,” Tubby said. “Am I right 
or ain’t I?” 

“Correct. We’ll forget him. He has 
theories, I deal in facts.” 



“Your big secret,” Tubby prompted^ 
“The real nature of space,” Sir Isaac 
said. “Do you know what an atom is?” 
Tubby gulped. “It ain’t somethin’ 
very big — am I right?” 

“It’s a particle of matter, consisting, 
of a void, with other particles whirling 
in it — electrons and such. And this void 
we’re in now — ” Sir Isaac gestured to 
the empty darkness outside the window. 
“Do you know what it really is?” 
“Maybe I don’t,” Tubby admitted. 
“You tell me.” 

“It’s the interior of an atom — a tiny 
particle of matter of a gigantic outer 
world.” 

“Y ou mean, like a grain of sand lyin’ 
on a beach, an’ we’re in the grain of 
sand. Am I wrong?” 

Sir Isaac beamed and clapped him on 
the shoulder. “You’re never wrong. 
You put it to a T. I must remember 
that analogy, when I come to explain 
it in my next book. Don’t you see how 
nicely everything fits? 'This void of 
space on Earth seems gigantic, illimit- 
.able, because we’re so small on tiny 
Earth. The earth and all the stars are 
nothing bufelectrons, flashing around 
each other. It takes a year for Earth to 
make one circuit around our sun. But 
that’s Earth-time. To the time of this 
gigantic world, the electron-earth 
would flash around that orbit thousands 
of times a second. You understand 
me?” 

“Maybe,” Tubby agreed. 

“And we’ve been growing gigantic,” 
Sir Isaac went on. “Compared to us the 
void is shrinking. It’s only a tiny thing, 
really, enclosed by the inner surface of 
the atom — ” 

“The big grain of sand,” Tubby said. 
Sir Isaac nodded eagerly. “And now, 
right this instant, we must be nearing 
that inner surface. And do you know 
what I really believe?” 

“No,” Tubby murmured breathlessly. 
“What?” 

“I believe we’re going to find people 
living there. Rational humans like our- 
selves. People of the atom. Dear me — 
that reminds me of a book I once 
wrote — ” 

M e CHECKED himself suddenly. 

Upon his thin, flushed, earnest 
face came adook of horror. 

1 




THE SPACE-TIME-SIZE MACHINE 



35 



‘,‘W — what’s the matter?" Tubby 
stammered, 

“The warning signal from my elec- 
troTspectrp-ultradynometer ! We’re ap- 
proaching the inner surface now ! Too 
close for safety with all this space-time- 
size change going on ! Why — ’’ 

He sprang tremblingly to his feet. 
For just a second he stood unde- 
cided; then he ran frantically ..around 
the control room, pulliiig levers, press- 
ing buttons, shoving svWjtehes and peer- 
ing at dials. Tidiby clung to his chair 
with his head reeling. Then the panting 
Sir Isaac was bending beside him. 

“Gave me a scare — thought we-were 
going to crash . . There’s the surface! 
Lights ! That means people ! I’m vindi- 
cated ! What a wonderful book this will 
make !’’ 

Tubby had a brief vision of an up- 
rushing darkly glowing surface — tiny 
moving lights — a shimmering blob that 
looked like an iridescent lake. Then 
the ship was vibrating and there was a 
crashing thud. The lights in the control 
room were extinguished. 

"We’re here," Sir Isaac cried ex- 
ultantly. 

Tubby staggered to his feet. 

“Quite a bump, but we’re here.’’ 

Sir Isaac slid open the pressure door. 
Heavy warm air wafted in. At the door- 
way, breathless with emotion. Sir Isaac 
and Tubby stood peering at a desolate 
scene of empty, naked, glowing rocks. 

“Quite some difference from Earth. 
Ami right, Perfessor?" 

It was different indeed. Sir Isaac 
saw and understood the differences, but 
to Tubby it was horribly confusing. 
Never in his life had he seen so many 
confusing things in a landscape. 
Whether it was night here, or day, he 
could not tell. There were no stars 
overhead — just an empty black sky. 
The light was like twilight; but it 
didn’t come from the air. The rocks 
themselves seemed self-luminous, phos- 
phorescent. 

“Inherent to the molecules of the 
rocks,” Sir Isaac murmured. “That’s 
as it should be — I recall my golden 
atom had that quality.” 

It was a barren, grim landscape — 
stripped of vegetation, just a vista of 
tumbled blue-black crags, dwindling 
off into a blurred luminous distance. 



Tubby stared, puzzled. 

“Perfessor, listen — there’s something 
wrong about this, am I right?” 

“Clever fellow,” Sir Isaac agreed 
warmly. “You notice the fundamental 
difference at once. Earth is a convex 
surface. This is concave.” 

Patiently he explained it. This was 
the inner surface of a gigantic atom, 
just the opposite from the outer surface 
of Earth. 'The laiidscape here curved 
upward to the horizon. Tubby saw it 
now plainly — a rising curve up to where 
in the vague glowing distance there 
was a blur of mountains. 

Sir Isaac was enthusiastic. 

“It confirms my theory absolutely. 
You notice, the angle of curvature is 
much greater than on Earth. I would 
say, relative to our present size, this 
inner surface Is no more than some 6000 
miles in circumference. So that would 
make a- diameter of son\e 2000 miles. 
Think of it — all that we on Earth call 
the infinity of space has dwindled now 
to 2000 miles.” 

Sir Isaac was so pleased with himself 
that Tubby couldn’t resist the tempta- 
tion to take him down a peg. 

“ Y ou said there was people here, Per- 
fessor. I don’t see none.” 

Sir Isaac was crestfallen. He took a 
step out of the doorway, with Tubby 
standing beside him on the blue-black 
phosphorescent rock-surface. Every- 
thing was so queer here. Even the 
atmosphere seemed differeiit from that 
pf the earths. Tubby found himself 
panting, as though somehow this heavy 
air wasn’t doing his lungs any good. 

,0 PEOPLE,” Sir Isaac said at 
last. “That would be a horrible 
disappointment. I could have sworn I 
saw moving lights as we landed.” 

“Listen,” Tubby warned. “I hear 
somethin’.” 

_ They had been absorbed in their 
argument. Now they became aware of 
a distant chattering sound, a murmur- 
ing noise like a thousand tiny voices all 
mixed together. 

"Queer,” Sir Isaac said. “That lake 
over there — ” 

About five hundred feet away there 
was a patch of what seemed phospho- 
rescent water. Tubby’s and Sir Isaac’s 
eyes were becoming more accustomed 




36 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



to the dim light ; details were getting 
clearer. Tubby could see the little patch 
of water much better now. He blinked, 
puzzled. Certainly it was the queerest 
lake he had ever beheld. The water was 
all churned up as though tumbled with 
waves. But there was not the slightest 
wind blowing. And Tubby saw that in 
the lake hundreds of tiny lights seemed 
bobbing around. The chattering tiny 
voices came from there. 

And queerest of all, this weird lake 
had no banks! The water wasn’t sunk 
in the ground; it was all heaped up on 
top of the ground, with nothing to hold- 
U from flowing away ! 

“There’s something wrong,” Tubby 
muttered. “Am I right?” 

“I have it!” Sir Isaac exclaimed .sud- 
denly. “Stupid of me ! That isn’t water ! 
That isn’t a lake ! That’s a crowd of 
people huddled together — ^frightened of 
us!” , , 

He took a few steps forward, with 
Tubby close beside him. 

“People ?” Tubby murmured. 

“We won’t hurt you;” Sir 'Isaac 
called. “Come forward! Stop crowding 
together — let’s see what you look like.” 

The murmuring distant chatter didn’t 
change. 

“Queer! Can’t they hear me?” Sir 
Isaac murmured. 

“Maybe they don’t understand Eng- 
lish,” Tubby suggested. 

Then suddenly the distant murmur 
did change. All the little chattering 
cries were stille'd, and out of the silence 
came a muffled voice: 

“Who — are — you ?” 

“English!” Tubby exclaimed. “Good 
luck for us, Perfessor.” 

“It would have to be English,” Sir 
Isaac said. “I mean, naturally it would 
sound like English to us. That’s telep- 
athy. The meaning of their speech im- 
presses our braiqs so that we. translate 
it, with words familiar to us. Those 
strange beings are doing the same — I 
mean they think they are hearing us in 
their own language. Good heavens, 
look at them!” 

The patch of what had seemed water 
was breaking apart now. Little round 
things, a foot or two in size, were shift- 
ing apart, rolling and bouncing so that 
in a minute to left and right the rocks 
were jammed. Amazing little things. 



A thousand of them at least, each with 
a tiny winking light like an eye. ^ 
“We’re friends from Earth,” Sir Isaac 
called. “Have your leader come for- 
ward. We won’t hurt you.” 

UBBY stammered softly, “Them’s 
people? My Gawd, Perfessor — I 
never seen anything like them before.” 
“Of course ybu haven’t. They are 
indigenous to this realm, a different 
basic protoplasm from ourselves, dif- 
ferent environment, a wholly different 
plane of evolution. By the look of them 
I would say that the molecular struc- 
ture of the protoplasm is less dense, less 
cohesive — more in , the nature of what 
we call the liquid state — I’ll write a 
book on the subject when we — ” 

“Here comes one,” Tubby interx 
rupted with awe. “My Gawd, look at 
him.” 

As though Sir Isaac’s previous com- 
mand had just been understood, a 
seeming leader had detached himself 
from the throng. He was larger than 
most of them — an almost perfectly 
round ball neasly as tall as Tubby’s 
knees. He came bouncing, undulating 
by flattening himself, and then expand- 
ing so that he bounced, balancing him- 
self with tiny arms like flippers. Then 
he stood still about a hundred feet 
away. He seemed panting. 

“He’s all tired out,” Tubby said. 
“Tough going, eh, Perfessor.” 

They could see him much plainer 
now.' The jellylike, dead-white mem- 
brane of his globular body was heaving 
in and out, and the whole of him was 
trembling. The little eye was on top, 
in front. It winked on and off, faint 
and greenish, like a glow-worm. It il- 
lumined what might be the face — a 
palpitating slit like a vertical mouth 
was over it. The slit opened and closed 
as though words were coming, but no 
sound was audible. 

Tubby saw that the palpitating body 
was dimly transparent. The organs 
were visible, crowded inside — all 
quivering and shifting one upon the 
other. 

“The semi-liquid state,” Sir Isaac 
was murmuring as though to himself. 
“I mustn’t forget the details : orig^al 
prott^lasmic cell-structure of light 
atomic weight — a multiplicity of atoms 




THE SPACE-TIME-SIZE. RJACHINE 



37 



loosely bound into molecules. Natu- 
rally, like liquids on our Earth, the 
conglomeration of cells assumes a 
globular shape when in a state of rest. 
A brain at the top, visibly apparent — 
small, but of intricate fluid structure. 
Internal organs of unknown nature. 
Food must be inhaled from the air; 
there are tiny floating unicellular 
organisms to provide nourishment, for 
certainly thefe seems no vegetable life 
here. . . This being has a voice — a 
vocal organ — ” 



closed rapidly. But no sound came. 

Then after another long interval, the 
words arrived : 

“From — which — Earth? Don’t — you 
— know — there — are — myriads of 
Earths?” 

“Somethin’ queer about this,” Tubby 
muttered. 

“I have it,” Sir Isaac exclaimed. ‘‘De- 
layed sound. Why didn’t I think of 
that before! Naturally with so strange 
an environment — this different type of 
air — molecules moving slowly, slug- 




OENCE 



KNOWL 




Test Yourself by This Questionnaire 

© 




1 — How long is the Venusian day? 

2 — How many light years away. is the star, Alpha Centauri, from the earth? 

3 — So far as weight per horsepower goes, which is more efficient, a muscle or a gas 
engine ? 

4— What is ^a hypersphere? 

5 — What are the names of the two moons of Mars? 

6 — What Is a comet? 

7 — What elements are contained in the tail of a comet? 

8 — How often does Halley’s comet return to Earth? 

9 — What famous scientist theorized that life spores can travel from world to world 
in tlve cold of space? 



(A Guide to the Answers Will Be Found on Page 123) 



“Who — do — you — say — you — are?” 
The weird little voice suddenly sound- 
ed like tiny words popping out of a 
gun. But queerly enough, though the 
slit of mouth had seemed to be talking 
half a minute ago, it was tightly closed 
now. 

“We come on a tour of exploration 
from Earth,” Sir Isaac called back. 

The words floated away into silence, 
and nothing else happened; All the 
thousands of little balls stood with rapt 
attention. The leader seemed waiting. 
Then at last his mouth opened and 



gishly vibrating — transmitting the 
waves of sound at a much slower rate 
than on Earth — ” 

“Delayed sound? What you mean, 
Perfessor?” 

“Wait,” Sir Isaac said. “I’ll get an 
answer on its way to him.” 

“We come from the Solar System,” 
-he called. 

“Sound travels very slowly here,” he 
added to Tubby. "On Earth it’s ap- 
roximately 1050 feet a second. Here, 
should judge it is only about a hun- 
dredth that fast . Maybe less 



38 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



Look, he just heard me. He doesn’t 
realize this is abnormal, of course. It’s 
perfectly normal to him. Ldok— now 
he’s answering.” 

T he mouth was going again. And 
presently the words arrived: 
“Which — Solar — System? Don’t — 
you — know — ^there — are — myriads — of 
Solar Systems?” 

“Our particular Sun has Venus, 
Mars, Saturn, Jupiter^ — and others,” 
Sir Isaac called. 

Tubby got a bright idea. 

“I’ll tell him,” he said. “Save time.” 
He dashed away over the rocks. All 
the little globes quivered in alarm, but 
the leader stood his ground. And now 
Tubby had the weirdest of all these 
weird experiences. As he ran, most 
distinctly he heard Sir Isaac’s voice: 
“Others and — Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, 
Venus has Sun particular our.” 

He was overtaking the words, hear- 
ing them in reverse as he passed them ! 

When he arrived beside the quivering 
little globe, he heard them again, right 
side up this time. 

The globe-man bounced a little for a 
nod. 

“What shall I tell him?” Tubby de- 
manded. 

But Sir Isaac himself now was com- 
ing forward. Tubby’s heart leaped into 
his mouth. A new thousand or so of 
the little globes had bounced out of 
the gloom. They were swarming 
around the space-time-size machine ! 
Taking possession of it ! 

“My Gavvd, Perfessor — " 

Sir Isaac turned, stricken. It was too 
late. He and Tubby were trapped here. 

All the globes nearby were swarm- 
ing away now. Their voices seemed 
jibing. 'The talking leader had disap- 
peared. 

The space-^ime-size machine was 
jammed with a horde of th4 bouncing 
little globes. And from Inside a voice 
called : 

“We’re — going — to — conquer-^your 
Earth. Come — help — us — run — this 
machine — or we’ll — leave — you — ^here 
— ^forever.” 

Tubby gripped Sir Isaac, forcing him 
down into the recess between two b^ 
rocks. “Easy, Perfessor,” he whisperecT. 
“They ain’t foxy. They all' run together. 



Watch me handle this.” 

“Come an’ get u's!” he shoute'd. 
“Here we are. If you try to run, that 
thing alone, you’ll kill yourselves!” 
“Now we got lots of time,” he mur- 
mured to Sir Isaac. “When they hear 
that, we won’t be here. We’ll be some- 
where else! Am I right?” 

Sir Isaac got the idea. He and Tubby 
ducked among the crags. Like flowing 
water, from the space-time-size ma- 
chine the invaders came pouring, 
bouncing up the rocks toward where 
they had heard Tubby’s voice. 

Tubby and Sir Isaac regained their 
ship just in time. The tricked globe- 
creatures saw them and canie bouncing 
back; they hurtled themselves agiinst 
the door-slide as Sir Isaac slammed it. 

Tubby saw the whole outside of the 
craft swarming with the globes. In a 
panic he dashed for the controls, wildly 
pulled a dozen levers and pushed a 
dozen buttons. 

The whole ship rocked with a violent 
shock. Tubby staggered. He found Sir 
Isaac gripping him. 

“You — you shouldn’t have done 
that,” Sir Isaac gasped. 

“Done— what?” 

“You’ve pulled the wrong levers!” 
Everything was splitting •with a hor- 
rible crashing and a glaring light. In 
the chaos there was only Sir Isaac’s 
terrified voice : 

“We’re going forward and backward 
through time!” He was clinging to 
Tubby, shaking him. “W& — we’re get- 
ting large and small both at once ! We 
can’t do it ! We'll burst i” 

Or was it somebody else shaking 
Tubby? This didn’t sound like Sir 
Isaac’s voice : 

“Hey, Tubby, come on. He’s fin- 
ished. We go out now.” 

“You’re right, Jake,” said another 
voice. “We go out now.” 

Chairs were rattling; people were 
shoving past. Tubby found himself 
clambering to his feet. His friends Jake 
and Pete were standing in the crowded 
" aisle of the lecture hall. 

“This here science, it’s a wonderful 
thing,” Jake was saying. 

“That lecturer,” Tubby retorted con- 
temptuously, “he don’t know nothin’, 
compared to me. Come on, let’s get out 
of here.” 



Death Waited While He Hovered ih^ t^ Sky! 




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Md., intending to make a parachute jump into the 
town square. 

"But the balloon was soggy. She wouldn’t 
give me altitude. 1 passed about 300 feet over the 
treetops of the town square, and didn't dare to 
jump . • . and then the big bag began to slowly settle. 

*1 ripped my ’Eveready* flashlight from its straps 
on my 'chute harness and snapped it on to see 
what was below me. To my horror, the balloon 



'i’ve sideslipped by these death- dealing wires 
with a 'chute many a time • • • but just imagine 
steering a lollopy big dying balloon by pulling on 
the shrouds. But B pulled with everything I had 
while the crowd waited for an aerial execution... 
and because those faithful, fresh DATED ’Eve- 
ready* batteries were on the 
job, and showed methe wires 
in time, 1 slid by certain death 
by inches/ Without light fAe 
instant / needed it, that crowd 
would have got more than its 
money's worth. {Signed) 



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39 





Penton and Blake, Space-Rovers, Discover 




IMMORTALITY 



CHAPTER I 
The Second Metal 

T ed PENTON, of the team of 
Penton and Blake, regarded his 
companion. Rod Blake, and 
grinned. In the great audience hall 
below, twelve hundred of Callisto’s 
scientists were assembling to hear the 
message of the visitors from space. 

“Plenty has happened to us since 
Earth kicked us out for taking off 



some of the three hundred , square 
miles of territory spang in the center 
of Europe in an atomic explosion. 
It’s their own fault if they can’t find 
us — outlawing research on atomic 
power. It was obvious when we devel- 
oped atomic power that we’d be the 
first men to reach the other planets. 
And nobody can follow to bring us 
back unless they accepted the hated 
atomic power and used it.” 

“One,” interrupted Rod Blake, 



Callisto’s Scientists Search a Missing 



40 




ticking it off on his finger, "I learned 
the Martian language under the able, 
if painful, hypnotic teaching of a 
Martian master, old Loshtu. Two,” a 
second finger, “I learned the Lanoor 
language on Ganymede by your hyp- 
notic teaching. You are not a master 
of Martian telepathy, and it was more 
racking. There, we are now on Cal- 
listo and I may be blowed to the nine 
planets and twenty-odd moons of -the 
Solar System before I let y6u teach 



me this language that way. 

“Look at the scraps we’ve picked up 
for ourselves so far : an hour after we 
landed on Mars we were trying des- 
perately to get away from Mars and 
their damned inhabitants, the tbushol. 
Then we went to Gan3rmede, battled 
their glorious shleatb and Lanoor, and 
got evicted. I won’t go through that 
headache I always collect from learn- 
ing a language via your hypnotism 
system if we are going to be here on 



1C 



(gy ih@ 



m Piyjzzl® ©f E'ibeiriniiil 



41 




42 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



Callisto a year or so. I can pick up the 
language normally in that time; so no 
hypotism. Got it?” 

Penton smiled beatifically. 

“The Callistans will want a speech 
from you at that conference that is so 
swiftly assembling. Just because we’ve 
had bad luck on those last two trips 
»» 

“If you think those Lanoor that 
were chasing us meant no more than 
bad luck when we left Gan3miede, why 
did you exhibit such surprising 
speed? Me, with two sound legs, and 
I had all that I could do to keep up 
with a wounded one. They weren’t 
wishing us bad luck ; they were wish- 
ing to elongate the vertebrae connect- 
ing my cranium with the rest of me, 
or I’m badly mistaken. Very peevish 
about it, too.” 

“H-m-m, mildly so. But then, you 
must admit those shleath were enough 
to make anyone peevish,” Penton 
pointed out judicially. 

“No fault of ours. We were asked to 
overthrow the Shaloor overlords, 
which we did. They should have had 
sense enough to keep those fifty-foot 
amebas in check after that. I’d have 
suggested turning that courtyard 
where they were into a sulphuric acid 
swimming pool, myself.” 

“No fault of ours, perhaps, but they 
wanted someone to blame, and we were 
handy. If the shleath had had the 
decency to stay fifty-foot size some- 
thing could be done. But now they are 
peeping their particularly unpleasant 
slime out of every rat-hole, crack and 
crevice in the whole city. Personally, 
I don’t see what the Lanoor are going 
to do about it. The only cure I could 
see was to burn down the whole city — 
ray it out of existence. The damned 
things can go anywhere, through the 
tiniest crack; worst of all, no animal 
cah fight them, they just digest it.” 

B lake was staring down through 
the ornamental grille that sepa- 
rated their room from the great audi- 
ence hall below. It was almost filled 
up. 

“By the way, Penton, what are you 
going to tell that Callistan assembly?” 
“Various things,” Penton sighed. 



“I’ll have to figure it out as I go along. 
I had a chance to talk with Tha Lagth, 
the old commander who brought us 
here, for only about five minutes. They 
have automobiles — we rode in one; 
wing-flapping, flying machines — we 
watched them as we came down in our 




I can’t make out. I know they don’t 
have fire, since no normal fuel will 
burn in this atmosphere, so I brought 
some things to amuse them.” Penton 
pulled some loose, metal scraps from a 
pouch he wore, and a small bottle 
filled with sticks of yellowish wax and 
a watery liquid. 

“White phosphorous for one,” 
guessed Blake, “but the metal has me 
stopped. Oh — magnesium. Yes, that 
would burn an5rwhere.” ’ 

“Some of them may have seen a 
flame in a laboratory, under special lab 
conditions, but I don’t think they saw 
any in open air. They do have ^hips 
— we saw them in the harbor down 
there — can see them now for that mat- 
ter. Say, they must all be motor ships, 
but 1 wonder what kind of motors they 
use? This air wouldn’t let even a Die- 
sel engine run. Electric — ^but how do 
they generate power? 

“Anyway, that’s the trouble. I want 
to find out what they know before I go 
spreading all my cards. Somehow, we 
have to stay here long enough tp get a 
stock of edible food. I wish we hadn’t 
been so bright, moving all the stuff 
from the ship into that apartment our 
friend P’holkuun gave us back on 
Ganymede.” 

“Yes,” Blake said ironically, “Oh 
Ambassador Plenipotentiary of Earth. 
How in the name of the wavering 
worlds will you support that claim?” 

“Well,” grifined his friend, “Earth 
gave us a royal sendoff the last time 
we visited — all the big guns firing in 
our honor.” 




THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS 



43 



“Probably it was an accident they 
left the shells in when they fired ’em,” 
Blake grunted. “I suppose you are 
playing on the fact that they can’t 
check up on you?” 

“But more immediately important, 
how about these Callistans? You 
swore up and down that they were an 
honest, gentlemanly race. But how 
sure are you?” 

Penton nodded toward the closet on 
one side of the room, where the snim- 
mery bulk of his space suit hung. 

“I discarded that suit. They don’t 
understand mental telepathy any more 
than we did before the Martians gave 
us practical lessons — even if un- 
pleasant ones. They can’t mask their 
thoughts, therefore, and 1 know what 
sort of ideas old Tha Lagth had while 
meeting us and bringing us here. He’s 
a nice, old fellow, and all that brusque, 
efficient, military air of his was due 
to the fact that he was half scared of 
doing the wrong thing. 

“What is the proper formula for 
greeting the first ambassador of an 
alien planet? Who should attend to 
it? Using uncommon good sense, the 
old fellow figured visitors from a for- 
eign world called for the whole con- 
stellation of scientists instead of poli- 
ticians. More power to him. The pre- 
mier will undoubtedly horn in, but I 
thank Tha Lagth for his kindly 
thoughts.” 

“I don’t mind your discarding the 
space suits,” Blake objected, “half so 
ipuch as I regret that the only holsters 
we had for the UV guns and the dis- 
integrator pistols were part of the 
space suits. I just like that nice, 
rhythmic, bump-bump-bump of a dis 
gun when I am on planets unknown. 
It makes me feel very much as though 
I really owned the place. Which isn’t 
so far from the truth when you have 
one of those ray guns on tap.” 

f g)ENTON shrugged. 

“A dis gun puts that potential 
ownership in the realm of academic 
questions. If you have to prove it, 
there is nothing but dust left to own 
when you reach the Q.E.D. stage. 
Anyway, prepare to meet the assem- 
bled bright-lights of the Callistan in- 



tellectual world. Here comes Tha 
Lagth.” 

Blake turned with a sigh. 

“I’m glad you’ll have to do all the 
talking as Earth’s ambassador. But 
look, can’t you do 'that thought-pro- 
jecting stunt so I can follow, even if 
»> 

“Even if you won’t take the trouble 
to learn the language?” Penton 
grinned. “I suppose I’ll have to. 

“Welcome, 'Tha Lagth,” said Pen- 
ton, smoothly shifting into Callistan. 
"The scientists are assembled?” 

“Yes, Earthmen. If you are ready 
— ” The old warrior looked at them 
with friendly dignity. 

Seated before that audience of 
twelve hundred Callistans, they found 
Penton’s guess confirmed. The pre- 
mier was an unusually tall man, even 
among the eight-foot Callistans, with 
grey-white hair and a jet-black beard 
clipped in a style strongly reminiscent 
of the ancient Assyrian custom. 

He was pointing out the immense 
importance of this occasion — historic 
moment — two world’s civilizations — 
the benefits of both. The director of 
the Shari Technical University rose 
and explained the historic moment — 
two world’s sciences — the benefits of 
both. Starn Druth, the most eminent 
scientist of Callisto, walked slowly up 
to the platform, an old, shaky man, his 
skin wrinkled with advanced age. But 
his speech was sharp, clever, and 
avoided the obvious. Penton listened 
with interest, and realized that the old 
body carried a keen, youthful mind. 

Starn Druth remarked that inevit- 
ably the available supplies of chemical 
elements on two worlds would differ 
in important, perhaps vital, ways. 

“There is,” he pointed out, “an ele- 
ment which theory has shown to be 
of immense importance. It exists in 
small quantities in the sun, but has 
never been, found here, to our regret. 
Our planet is light, and has lost nearly 
all the hydrogen, the helium and the 
other light atoms it originally had 
when the worlds cooled from creation. 
The heavier worlds may well have re- 
tained these elements- in small but 
available quantities. Thi^ — ” 

At the back of the huge hall, a man 



44 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



stumbled in, a man in the green-blue 
uniform of the Air Force. He was 
panting for breath, wildly excited. 
Despite the efforts of the attendants 
who rose to stop him, he ran down the 
aisle shouting. 

Tha Lagth rose to his feet and 
stepped forward sharply. 

“Halt !” he roared. “What is the rea- 
son for this intrusion?” 

“Commander — Commander — the 
ship. Their ship is made of the Second 
Metal !” '• 

With a single, mighty roar, the as- 
sembly came to its feet. Tha Lagth 
sfopped abruptly, and looked to old 
Starn Druth. The scientist stared in 
sudden triumph at his colleagues. 

“I said it I The heavy world retained 
the Second Metal !” But no one heard 
his voice in the clamorous shouting. 
Tha Lagth had taken up the gavel, and 
was pounding vigorously at the res- 
onator on. his desk. Slowly its sharp, 
piercing note struck out through the 
babble to quiet the hundreds of Callis- 
tans. Gradually they relaxed in their 
seats. 

messenger,” said Tha 
Lagth at length, “what was 

found?” 

“A micro-sample was scraped from 
the hull of the strangers’ ship, and 
analysis performed. The chief com- 
ponents detected were copper, cobalt, 
aluminum and magnesium. The bulk 
of the material definitely did not an- 
swer to any known test. The analysts 
took a second specimen and made 
spectroscopic tests. The scientists re- 
ported that it was definitely identified 
as the Second Metal. Eighty percent 
of the metal of the ship’s hull — hun- 
dreds of tons — is the non-existent 
metal I” 

Starn Druth muttered something 
under his breath, his bright old eyes 
fixed on Tha Lagth. Then he spoke. 

“I suggest that I explain to these 
strangers the importance of this Sec- 
ond Metal to us.” He looked toward 
Penton eagerly. 

“Most of our industry and science 
has been based on the study of life, 
bio-chemistry. Within recent years, 
we. have learned to synthesize life- 



forms from inorganic elements; we 
make living cells, and design them for 
certain functions. Gradu^ly we have 
developed many different types of 
synthetic life-forms that supply us 
with food, and do our work. 

“But by theoretical calculations it 
has been shown that the greatest tri- 
umph of all, intelligent micro-life, can 
be produced in only one way; we know 
the needed combination of- elements, 
of amino acids and carbohydrates. 
Many times we have gathered these 
things and put them together in the 
proper way, but the stimulating spark 
has not appeared. We lack the one 
thing which will start that life work- 
ing. 

“The lower forms of life we have 
used have been stirred from inorganic 
immobility to life by the flashing 
of the rays of radium. To procure 
more intelligent forms, even more 
powerful rays are needed, and some of 
our best results have been attained by 
the aid of immense X-ray tubes operat- 
ing at nearly ten million volts. But to 
create the ultimate ideal, intelligent, 
obedient, microscopic life, we must 
have rays emanating from a fifteen 
billion volt source! Rays of a partic- 
ular type. 

“Our atomic theorists have proven 
that in all Universe, only one thing 
can supply just that ray ; the disinte- 
gration of the atoms of the Second 
Metal.” 

Penton nodded slowly. “Huh. Beryl- 
lium. And we made the ship out of 
that. It’s such a light element it prob- 
ably all boiled away while your planet 
was cooling. It’s enormously rare, 
even on Earth.” 

“We need it," Starn Druth ex- 
plained softly, “because with intel- 
ligent, obedient life-forms of micros- 
copic size, we can become immortal.” 

Penton started. “Imrnortality — 
how?” 

“By directing those life-forms to 
make the repairs our bodies need, by 
ordering them to destroy malignant 
growths, by injecting billions of obe- 
dient defenders when infection threat- 
ens. Our bodies naturally have cer- 
tain forms of defending cells, but they 
act instinctively. Malignant tumors— 



THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS 



45 



cancer — they do not attack, because 
that is a growth of the body they de- 
fend. No instinct warns them. We can- 
not summon them to the attack when 
infection begins but must wait until 
their sluggish instinct at last warns 
them. With the synthetic life we know 
how to make, we can guarantee our- 
selves immunity to all disease, injury, 
or senile decline.” 

Penton looked at Starn Druth 
thoughtfully a moment. His racing 
thoughts sized up a situation that was 
rapidly becoming more than warm; 
the only beryllium on the planet was 
their ship. Penton and Blake were not 
wanted back on Earth, where further 
beryllium could be obtaided. 

B T might be two years before their 
friends on Earth finally succeeded 
in convincing the government of 
Earth that the outlawed and vastly 
feared atomic motor would not blow 
up to destroy the planet— 

“There are scattered, minute 
amounts of beryllium on Earth. In re- 
turn for the knowledge of your tech- 
nique of creating these intelligent 
forms of micro-lite, I am sure that 
Earth can supply you with sufficient 
beryllium within one year.” 

Starn Druth looked toward him 
quizzically. 

“We need beryllium within one 
month. Your ship could make the 
round trip very readily in that time.” 
“But beryllium is excessively rare — 
you know that. So finely scattered 
among so much rock — ” 

A scientist rose haltingly from the 
floor of the assembly. 

“The beryllium atom, according to 
OUT calculations,” he said “would not 
blend in with ordinary rocks. Even 
when very rare, it should occur in 
small, but concentrated deposits. It is 
insoluble, and hence would not dis- 
perse.” 

Penton looked at him unhappily. 
Callistan science was most unfortu- 
nately advanced ; the man was 100 per 
cent right. “The ore is so rare,” lied 
Pentoq, “that some of pur most pre- 
cious jewels are made of it. Emeralds 
— sapphires. It was only .because the 
metal has the property of' stopping 



certain rays in space that we were 
forced to use the extremely expensive 
material — ” Penton suggested hope- 
fully. 

It didn’t go over. They might never 
have seen the metal, but they evidently 
knew plenty about its properties. 

“Diamond is a rare form of a com- 
mon element ; certain of our jewels are 
a rare crystalline of aluminum oxide, 
a common material,” said Starn Druth 
uneasily. “Beryllium is opaque to no 
known radiation, save ordinary light. 
What are these space-rays?” He 
looked toward Penton with an evident 
feeling that something was being con- 
cealed. 

“If we return at once,” said Penton 
finally, “I can assure you a sufficient 
supply, a ton or more, of beryllium 
within one year of my planet.” 

“If we used the metal of your space 
ship,” suggested Starn Druth softly, 
“we could arrange to have certain of 
the intelligent micro-life cells made 
to suit your body-chemistry. Both of 
you would be assured immortality. 
There would be much for you to learn 
here, aqd eventually we could dupli- 
cate your ship.” 



CHAPTER II- 
Impermanent Residence 



^^^HAT,” explained Penton iron- 
.H ically, nodding toward the four, 
eight-foot Callistans pacing the corri- 
dors from their room, “is a guard of 
honor. By no means let it be thought 
that they are warders of our confin^ 
ment.” 

Blake looked at them morosely. 
“Shut up I This is one world we haven't 
been kicked out of yet. And is our 
ship guarded! Tha Lagth ordered 
only four rowfe of guards to surround 
it, while the scientists worked out re- 
fimng methods. I wish they had put 
us back in that room where we first 
were. Our space suits are there.” 

“Man, those Callistans have heads 
on them. They knew more about a 
metal they had never seen than I, who 
had built a ship of it. There was not a 



46 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



chance that they would forget and put 
us in with those suits again,” 

“When does it get dark here?” asked 
Blake suddenly. “From the looks of 
those shadows on the orange lawn out 
there, the sun hasn’t moved an inch 
since we arrived here six hours ago.” 

“An inch, maybe. But not much 
more,” Penton sighed. “This satellite 
always faces Jupiter with the same 
side, like Luna facing Earth. It takes 
sixteen days to go around, so it will be 
sixteen days before that blasted sun 
sets. No chance of waiting for night.” 

“Sixteen da}r8? It wasn’t dawn when 
we landed,” Blake protested. 

“Oh bother, you figure it out. I 
count on my fingers and when I have 
rheumatism I make mistakes,” Penton 
growled. “Man, next time when some- 
bpdy wants something I say, ‘Yes, sir. 
Right away, sir. You want the sun on 
your front steps? Oh, certainly. Just 
a moment.’ I might have known "that 
they wouldn’t be in the mood for wait- 
ing. Reasonable enough. Old Starn 
Druth doesn’t consider it advisable to 
wait a year or so while we get beryl- 
lium, and six months while they make 
and test that life-cell. 

“Their president is just as old, and 
naturally most of the people that run 
the place are getting old, so it’s not 
really remarkable that they want that 
beryllium in a hurry. If they can hold 
off for six months they live centuries 
more. If they die within that time — 
they lose immortality !” 

“Somehow you don’t seem inter- 
ested in their offer of immortality 
yourself.” 

Penton looked at his friend. 

“Do you think that anybody can 
figure out the entire life chemistry of 
a foreign life-form in a year, or ten, 
years? They’ve studied their own for 
centuries, and now they don’t know 
enough to control it, without invoking 
trick life forms. They don’t know 
their own chemistry, and with no ex- 
perimental animals to work on, they 
wouldn’t know ours in less time than 
it took them to learn their own. They 
know damn well we are here to stay, 
because they can’t do large-scale metal 
work. I learned that from Starn Druth 
while he was thinking the problem 



over. All their major works are stone 
or wood, or plastics like bakelite. 

“No fife except in laboratory lots; 
their electricity is derived from some 
sort of primary battery, since they 
don’t have fires or steam engines, and 
their gravity is tbo light for hydro 
power in quantity. It’d take them fifty 
' years, under our direction, to build up 
a smelting and refining industry even 
based on atomic power. They’d have 
to start from scratch.” 

“I have an overwhelming desire to 
go home,” Blake commented. “How 
are we going to do it, though?” 

“There is no use waiting for night. 
They have their guards planted, but 
not thoroughly worked out yet, so I’ve 
sort of an idea that if we just bounce 
out faster than they put us in, we’ll 
catch them unprepared. Also, if we 
wait a few days here, there won’t be 
enough of our ship left to worry about. 
Did you get the layout of the city?” 

ES. It’s a harbor city on an in- 
land sea, more of a huge salt 
lake. The harbor is something like San 
Francisco on a miniature scale. Shaped 
like a Greek capital omego. We’re on 
the left headland, in the governmental 
buildings, surrounded by nice, broad, 
orange parks. We’d be as conspicuous 
as a pair of zebras walking down Fifth 
Avenue arm in arm. The ship’s at the 
airport on the opposite headland. The 
only way I can see to get there is to 
cross those parks, with their bright 
orange grass, in full daylight, and 
somehow get among those warehouses 
and docks along the waterfroqt. 

“From there, we’d have to steal a 
car, and somehow get over to the port. 
Then we have to convince four lines of 
guardsmen that it’s .either bedtime, 
and they are sound asleep, or that we 
are just part of the scenery.” 

“It would help if their grass weren’t 
quite such a vivid shade, or if we had 
orange clothes.” 

“God forbid; me in orange pants!” 
“It’s a good plan, Blake, only you 
need some details. Also, those swords 
the guards are wearing have such un- 
pleasant waves in the edge. They look 
as though the genius who designed ’em 
had an evil disposition.” 




THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS 



47 



“Huh. They have compressed air 
guns, too.” 

Penton looked thoughtfully down 
the hallway. Two guards cluttered up 
the doorway, conversing interestedly. 
Beryllium was big news, of course. 
Further down the corridor, two more 
were equally interested in the pos- 
sibility of immortality. But they 
were very much awake. 

“You know, my friend, I wonder 
what these birds would do if — ” Pen- 
ton went through his pockets and the 
pouch he was still wearing. He felt 
his flashlight, powered by a miniature, 
atomic disintegrator. Too miniature 
to do any real damage. Two packs of 
cigarettes that wouldn’t burn in this 
atmosphere, which was rich in carbon 
dioxide and nitrogen, but too poor in 
oxygen to support combustion came 
into view. Soap, water softener, odds 
and ends, some pieces- of magnesium 
scrap, and finally a small bottle of 
waxy, white phosphorus. “We can 
but try,” he sighed at last. 

In full view of the guards, he sat 
down in the middle of the room. From 
the flashlight, he removed the lens, the 
bulb, and the reflector, baring the 
copper contacts. From the bottle of 
phosphorus he removed three white 
sticks. Then he built up a little pile 
of magnesium metal on the stone floor- 
ing. 

The guards had stopped talking, and 
were watching him uneasily. Penton 
had found a length of copper wire in 
his pocket and Blake produced an- 
other. Rapidly Penton attached them 
to the contacts of the flashlight, so that 
they extended out about three feet, a 
supple wand of insulated copper wire, 
ending in two'bare bits of metal. These 
he wrapped around two magnesium 
metal nuts he found. Briefly he 
pressed the button of the flashlight. 
The magnesium nuts flared magnifi- 
cently for an instant, then died as the 
current was broken. 

The guards were drawing closer, 
their swords unsheathed, but looking 
uncertain of themselves. “Huh,” Pen- 
ton nodded slowly. “They are trying 
to make it out. Never saw an electric 
arc, or fire. This, I think, will be fun.” 
He wrapped a bit of the phosphorus 



in a scrap of copper wire. Again the 
atomic flash sent a burst of flame be- 
tween the contacts. This time the 
phosphorus came away flaring red, 
while an enormous cloud of dense, 
dirty-white smoke rolled out. 

P ENTON and Blake slapped hand- 
kerchiefs across their noses, and 
ran to the water-jar on one side of the 
room. In a moment the room was filled 
with one of the most impenetrably 
dense, white clouds known to man. 

Penton stumbled his way through 
the whiteness, with the protecting 
mask across his mouth. Outside the 
room, the guards were calling ; inside, 
one was choking, coughing, and upset- 
ting the furniture. Penton bent over 
his pile of magnesium metal, and a 
moment later a terrific flare of blue- 
white light glared through the envel- 
oping pall of phosphorus pentoxide 
smoke. The magnesium Was burning 
beautifully. It made a perfect camou- 
flage. 

Sixty seconds later they moved 
rapidly down the siic..j corridor; far 
away, around many bends, they heard 
the shouts of alarmed guards. 

“How the blazes do you fire these 
pop-guns?” demanded Blake, inspect- 
ing hastily his captured weapon. 

“That stud there — it isn’t a nut; it’s 
a trigger.” Penton coughed and swore. 
“That nose mask wasn’t any too effec- 
tive. And my mouth is beginning to 
itch from the acid.” 

They dodged down side corridors, 
past doors from which bewildered Cal- 
listans appeared, to be hurled out of 
the path of the two Terrestrials, mus- 
cled for a far heavier world. A door 
appeared at the side of a corridor, and 
Penton halted abruptly. He caught 
Blake, and looked at the lettering on 
the door a moment. 

“Damn. Wish I’d learned their writ- 
ing more consciously — I think that 
means exit.” They tried it. At their 
feet, a corridor slanted downward, 
spiraling off to the right, and down. 
The steep slant made running danger- 
ous; the thin air made running diffi- 
cult. 

Spaced lights gave the only illumi- 
nation, doors appearing occasionally 



48 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



gave the only indication of altitude. 
Down — down till one of the doors 
burst open, and a troop of guardsmen 
faced them in blank surprise. The 
flashlight suddenly flared with the in- 
credible brilliance of burning mag- 
nesium, and Penton charged at the 
group. Blake’s air gun soughed softly 
three times, then failed as the supply 
of compressed air gave out. 

Stumbling over each other, the 
guards retreated from the weirdly 
flaming death Penton so evidently car- 
ried; some deadly radiation known 
only to these beings of another world, 
no doubt — The Terrestrials followed 
their fleeing footsteps, but turned 
aside at the first window. Eighty feet 
beneath the aperture the orange lawn 
swaled off toward the shabby docks 
and warehouses. 

“Let’s go,’’ said Penton. “We can 
stand an eighty foot drop — I hope.’’ 



CHAPTER III 
Pipeline 



HEY Stood still, panting, two min- 
utes later, lost in a maze of crated, 
baled goods, as the platoon of guards 
thundered across the broad lawn after 
them, running in great strides behind 
the Earthmen’s crazy leaps. The 
masses of goods imported from un- 
known ports of this strange sea piled 
about them in an ordered confusion. 
Somewhere workmen were shouting, 
calling to the guards as Blake scurried 
around a great heap of crated fruit of 
some kind. Each crate was fully six 
Feet square, and he halted abruptly. 

“Penton, we need a residence. Catch 
hold.” Blake swung at one of the bulky 
crates; it lifted easily to his Earth- 
strength. Five minutes later the 
guards deployed through the building, 
seeking, shouting, ordering. Ima four- 
foot by six closet, completely sur- 
rounded by the friendly and uncom- 
municative fruit, Penton grinned 
thoughtfully. 

“Here we' are, hidden in this crate, 
walled in on every side by provisions, 
and with somewhat collapsed gastric 



regions, yet not taking advantage of 
the situation. Shall we eat?” 

Blake looked at the fruit in the sur- 
rounding crates. They were about the 
size of lemons, with a horny-looking 
shell of bright purple with yellow- 
green spots. 

“I don’t know. I’m sensitive to color, 
and if they taste anything like they 
look, we’ll be most remarkably ill.” 

“I’m not affected by color, but I am 
affected by food. They smell good, so 
I’ll experiment. The soldiers seem to 
have missed us.” Penton opened hi's 
pouch, and pawed through its con- 
tents. “Soap — I’m a cleanly individual 
but — say, it will grease the knife, 
though, when we cut this wood. Borax 
water softener — no help. Another 
scrap of magnesium— -ah, here we are. 
The knife.” 

Carefully soaping the blade, he cut 
at the soft wood of the crate. Presently 
he had an opening large enough to ad- 
mit his fingers, and a moment later 
gently extracted one of the weird look- 
ing things." Cautiously he wiped the 
remaining soap from the knife blade, 
and attacked the horny coating. It 
was thin, and almost at oiice gave way, 
to allow a dark, purplish jelly to ooze 
forth. Skeptically Penton tested a bit 
of it on the point of his knife, tasted a 
larger amount, and .smiled approval. 

“Hm-m,” said Blake, sampling Pen- 
ton’s offering. “Quite fairish. Have 
you any knowledge, plucked from Tha 
Lagth’s mind, as to — ”< 

Abruptly there was a frantic 
scratching at the case near them, and a 
thunderbolt of peculiarly active flesh 
forced its way inward. Frantically 
Penton and Blake backed away in 
their tiny closet, beating at the furry 
thing half seen in the dimness. The 
creature, whatever it was, made a ter- 
rific leap at Penton, gripped, and sank 
its teeth with an unpleasant grating 
sound of power into the folds of the 
pouch he was carrying, tearing the 
tough fabric open instantly, to release 
a tinkling deluge of miscellaneous 
items onto the floor. 

Instantly it forgot all about the men 
to paw frantically, with little whim- 
pering sounds, among the wreckage. 
With an air of supreme triumph it 




THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS 



49 



earn? up with a small, square package, 
which it inunediately crushed between 
its. teeth, to consume with every evi- 
dence of the most complete satisfac- 
tion. 

“My god — that was borax!” gasped 
Penton, “That’s going to be one sick 
animal in a sweet short time.” 

P aper and package vanished as 
the animal gulped heavily once. 
- Its dimly seen head turned, and gleam- 
ing, violet eyes looked up at Penton. 

“Borax,” it remarked pleasantly, 
very happily in fact. The word echoed 
clearly, precisely in Penton’s mind, in 
Blake’s mind, too. 

Penton sat down heavily. Blake 
looked blankly at the animal, now suf- 
ficiently motionless for observation. 
It was long, two feet long. It was low, 
not more than six inches at the shoul- 
der, and it had a doglike head, with 
rather friendly, violet eyes. But it had 
six short, stubby legs, each armed with 
four sharp claws. It was smiling, more 
or less, in a friendly sort of way, -and 
displaying a set of teeth that started 
with glistening, greyish fangs, almost 
metallic in their luster, and ranged 
backward to a group of , opposed 
molars as broad as a man’s thumb-nail. 
It had a soft, grey-brown coat of fur, 
and a long, gently wagging tail. 
“More borax^” it amended. 

“I think,” said Blake faintly, “that 
it likes borax, hard as that may be to 
believe. In fact, I think it’s a mind- 
reading, broadcasting pooch that came 
because it smelled our borax.” 

“Like borax,” mentally agreed the 
animal, wagging a friendly tail. 

“It looks like the result of mixing a 
d.t.’s nightmare with a dachshund,” 
Penton decided. “I’m glad, at least, 
tkat it doesn’t like me.” 

“Like you,” insisted the animal. 
“Gkrthps likes you . . More borax?” 
The mental impressions were some- 
what slurred, accented, so to speak, as 
the utterances of a parrot are accented 
by the peculiar limitations of the par- 
rot’s anatomy. 

“Gk — anyway, that must be its 
name,” Blake said; “I think we had 
better call it Pipeline. With all those 
legs, tails and heads sticking out of 



that unnecessarily elongated body, I 
think it resembles a complete network 
of pipes,” Penton sighed. “I think — 
and hope — that it means it approves of 
me in a personal way; that is, that its 
liking, for me and its appreciation of 
borax differ fundamentally. Anyway, 
it looks friendly.” 

“More borax?” telepathized the 
animal plaintively. 

“No, Pipeline, not here. You’ll have 
to visit us some day when we get back 
to the ship. There is about fifty 
pounds of it there.” 

Pipeline almost danced. 

“Visit the ship Go back to the 
ship.” 

“Hm-m, we’d like to, too, but can’t 
just now. Say, Penton, how far do you 
think this creature’s mental impres- 
sions reach out? I« he broadcasting 
our conferences here like an animated 
telepathic microphone? Did the Cal- 
listans send him here for that pur- 
pose?” 

“Not far. I was just becoming aware 
of a sensation of a pleasant odor, 
which must have been, actually, my 
picking up his thoughts as he caught 
the scent of borax — sweet satellites, 
what a delicacy for any animal — when 
he burst in here. It doesn’t radiate far. 
But — I have a suspicion it has a 
memory.” 

“Memory,” agreed Pipeline proudly. 
"Remember, they must be in here . . . 
Watch the exits j . . No, guard the 
ship . . . You’re a fool, watch the exits 
You’re an infernal, insubordinate, 
unripe idiot . . , You’re a blistering un- 
der-captain, trying to tell a general his 
duty . . . Get out of here before I stamp 
my initials permanently in your liver 
. . . Watch the ship, you blithering, 
blasting, blowing, brainless aberra- 
tion! What did they escape for? . . 
They want the ship ... Go to the ship, 
visit the ship. Borax — more borax — 
visit the ship They went to the 
ship, so why hunt the city — they’ll go 
to the ship . . . Watch the ship.” 

LAKE sighed. 

“Disconnected, perhaps,” he 
said leaning back against a crate, “but 
intelligent. Highly intelligent. You 
are a remarkable animal. Pipeline, and 




60 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



you get a full pound of borax for that, 
the minute we reach the ship, though 
what you want it for, and how you live 
on it beats me. You seem to have a re- 
markable faculty for phonographic — 
or telepathic — recording.” 

He turned aside to Penton. 

“I think I know how Pipeline works. 
His mind, I mean. Whenever we think 
of something, he broadcasts all he has 
ever heard pertaining to that subject. 
He’s like an intelligent phonograph 
record-r— doesn’t know where to stop or 
begin.” 

“Live on borax,” chortled Pipeline 
pleasantly. “Borax necessary for this 
peculiar form of life . . . This specimen 
I have obtained from the watchman of 
a local warehouse,' who reports that it 
was given to him, together with its 
mate, by a sailor returning from’ Stak- 
querl . . . The dissections have demon- 
strated the remarkable anatomy of this 
beast, which, unlike other life-forms, 
bases its fundamental life chemistry 
on fifty pounds of borax in the ship. 

“This type ,of life occurs in only 
that one region of our planet, ind is 
quite common there, being represented 
by a complete type of evolution. This 
is its highest representative, capable 
of receiving telepathic impressions di- 
rect from the mind of one man, and re- 
generating those thoughts in the mind 
of another, while only to a very lim- 
ited extent understanding the material 
so repeated It’s a mind-reading, 
broadcasting pooch that came because 
it smelled borax . . . More borax?” 

Penton chuckled. 

“Man, what a college education you 
got somewhere, even if you did get it 
a little mixed up. So you have a girl- 
friend, eh?” 

“Girl-friend of my own.” Pipeline 
sat down suddenly with the last two 
sets of legs, and stood up in front. 
Then lugubriously the animal lay 
down with t_he front legs, and stood 
up in back, while remaining seated in 
the middle. “No girl-friend of my 
own . . . But I have Thkrub 

“Oh, I begin to understand. I sus- 
pect you have it the wrong way 
around, Ted. This is the female of the 
species,” Blake decided. 

“Female of the species bears from 



fifteen to fifty young at a time; the 
mating season is practically con- 
tinuous . . . The male and female mate 
for life, and at practically any time 
that fifty pounds of borax in the ship 
is available young are produced 
The lack of more borax alone prevents 
this extremely fecund species from 
overrunning the planet . . . They have, 
you observe, a series of exceedingly 
powerful molars, capable, in fact, of 
crushing minerals for digestion 
The animal is capable of ingesting and 
utilizing inorganic boron . Let’s 
visit the ship . They supply their 
energy needs, however, from the com- 
bustion of carbon compounds, as we 
do, being omnivorous in this respect 
They make highly entertaining 
pets where the owner can find or pro- 
cure the expensive boron compounds 
necessary for their life.” 

“Brief life history. I bet Pipeline — 
or is it Pipeiiness — has heard that lec- 
ture a dozen times. Can you suggest 
a way of turning her off?” 

“Turn me off, that’s it . . After all 
these years I've slaved to help you, 
slaved for your children, scrimped and 
saved so that you could have a good 
time, you brute . . . Now you turn me 
off for some flighty, giddy-headed-^ 
more borax?” 

“Who, Pipeiiness, no family quar- 
rels. You’ll get borax when we get to 
the ship. And then only if stay 
quiet until we arrive, or we ask ques- 
tions. Where’s your mate, Pipeii- 
ness?” 

For an animal born of a small world,' 
Pipeiiness could develop speed. Pen- 
ton thought this time of a male mate, 
and Pipeiiness went to fetch him. Be- 
fore either Blake or Penton could 
move, the animal had vanished with a 
Soft scurry of claws. 



CHAPTER IV 
Stragath 



ffW’D never have suspected speed 
A like that in such short legs,” 
.said Blake 'softly. “Do you think 
she’ll be. back?’ 



THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS 



51 



“More borax,” sighed Penton. “Fifty 
pounds of borax in the ship. Man, you 
couldn’t lose that critter now to save 
you. All the repressed mother love of 
the last five years or so is probably 
welling up in her under-slung bosom. 
I image, from the lecture she just de- 
livered, that friend watchman of the 
domestic difficulties can’t feed her the 
boron she wants, and evidehtly she 
needs a sufficient supply of boron to 
have young. At any rate I need a sup- 
ply of carbon compounds. She inter- 
rupted my eating rather abruptly.” 

“There seems to be enough jelly- 
fruit here to keep any two people go- 
ing. Tastes funny, doesn’t it? Rather 
like a cross between orange juice and 
beef gravy, unpleasant as that sounds.” 

“It sovmds omnivorous, but isn’t,” 
Penton objected. “I have a curious de- 
sire to consume some sort of meat 
food. They must have some kind of — 
what ho ! They have. Or at least that 
certainly looks like a local substitute 
for the old, familiar of seashore, quick 
lunches.” 

Blake looked at f^e contents of the 
case Penton indicated. Like the one 
they had first raided, it was addressed 
to a wholesale grocer, but this con- 
tained some item that closely resem- 
bled a seven-inch hot dog. 

“Even their hot dogs are skinny. 
Sort of in proportion,” Blake pointed 
out. “The thing’s only half as thick 
as it should be, and half again as 
long.” 

Penton was quietly carving at the 
boards of the case. Delicately he 
reached in, and pulled out one of the 
things. His brow furrowed in deep 
thought. 

“I know what these darned things 
are, but for the life of me, I can’t re- 
call the name, nor the properties. I 
wasn’t trying to learn foods when I 
read Tha Lagth’s mind. Yes — they’re 
food, all right. I remember that much 
— seems I remember eating them as is. 
Well, here 'goes!” 

Penton put a very small portion of 
the Callistan delica^ in his mouth, 
and bit on it gently. Blake stared. Ab- 
ruptly, Penton’s face froze in an ex- 
pression of horrified surprise, his eye- 
brows climbed frantically to join his 



hair, then his eyes popped very wide 
open. He sat in frozen astonishment, 
while the right eyebrow slid slowly 
downward, and a slow, dawning com- 
prehension spread over him. His hand, 
gripping the strange food, gripped 
tignter, and he swallowed, while his 
eyes closed desperately. Very slowly 
his Adam’s apple crawled up, took 
hold, and slid dowi^ bis windpipe with 
a special delivery package for his 
stomach. 

His eyes opened, and he lopked at 
Blake. A beatific smile spread over his 
face. The remainder of the thing van- 
ished in three large gulps. Penton sat 
very still for a moment, as though con- 
centrating on inner voices of sur- 
passing beauty. Finally he looked 
again at Blake. 

“Remarkable,” he said in a falsetto 
voice. "Er — eh, I mean remarkable. 
You must try one.” He pulled forth 
another and handed it to Blake. 

Rod Blake looked at him with deep 
suspicion. 

“Judging from the struggle you 
went through,” he said at length, “I 
don’t know that I’m so keen on it. Just 
what, my friend, was the matter with 
you?” 

“I — ^I was trying to remember it. For 
a moment I thought I had. You see, 
there’s a thing called stragth that is a 
kind of red sea worm, very poisonous; 
it stings. These are stragath, popular- 
ly so-called because they somewhat re- 
semble that worm. Oh, they aren’t, of 
course, but that’s what had me scared. 
Try it — it’s really delicious.” 

B lake took the thing in two fin- 
gers, very cautiously. Very cau- 
tiously, he put his teeth to a minute 
scrap and bit — 

Instantly he dropped the thin^, and 
jumped up. It curled violently in his 
grip ; a thin, squealing wail of anger 
chattered from it through his teeth. 
Violently the far end of it curled up 
to swipe forcefully against his nose. 
Squealing angrily it flopped about on 
the floor as Blake looked at it in un- 
disguised horror. 

Smilingly, Penton reached out and 
pinched the far end. It lay still — and 
almost simultaneously disappeared as 



52 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



Pipeliness darted through the crack 
by which she had entered before, to 
gobble it down in a single motion. 

“More stragath?" she askbd bright- 
ly. “More stragath for Thkrub?” 

Behind her a somewhat larger edi- 
tion scurried in, to sniff in a friendly 
fashion at Penton, with a wagging, 
silky tail. Violet eyes in a broad, 
mahogany-brown head looked up at 
him. 

“Borax,” said the newcomer. 

Penton fished another stragath out 
of the crate, and tossed it toward the 
animal. “I take it you are — ^well. Pipe- 
line. We won’t attempt that name of 
yours.” The bit of food was caught 
expertly, and vanished instantly. 

“Fifty pounds of borax in the ship 
. . Let’s visit the ship,” suggested 
Pipeline, not to be swayed from an im- 
portant purpose. 

“Let’s change the tune. Pipeline. 
We have about ten kilograms of boric 
acid, too.” 

“Ten, kilograms of boric acid. Let’s 
visit us at the ship.” Pipeliness danced 
happily. Abruptly her nose went up, 
and she trotted over to the case. 

“I wondered how she made those six 
legs work together,” Blake sighed. 
“Every time she’s moved before, she’s 
gone so fast they just blurred. I’m be- 
ginning to get it.” 

, “This animial,” Pipeline stated, dog- 
matically, following his mate, “is, as 
are all members of this system of evo- 
lution, equipped with six pedal mem- 
bers ..These six limbs are normally 
operated in the manner of a pacer, 
those on one side moving in unison . . . 
However, some members of the species 
vary this gait in almost any possible 
combination . . i Very good stragath.” 

Pipeliness sat down on her rearmost 
legs, on her middle legs stood up, and 
reached up the case with her forelegs. 
Long, retractile claws reached out and 
with an expert flip she snared a stra- 
gath. The thing shot through the air 
to be snapped up instantly by her 
mate. Five more followed in machine- 
gunlike succession before she sent a 
stream toward her own swift-acting 
jaws. 

“Efficient, Pipeliness, efficient. 
Could you send some our way?” sug- 



gested Penton. The animal glanced at 
him, her tail wagged briefly, and al- 
most immediately Penton was bom- 
barded by a rapid-fire stream of arriv- 
ing stragath. Not quite as quick as the 
animals, he failed to catch all of them, 
and several fell to the floor. They 
squeaked instantly, doubled them- 
selves the instant they hit the ground 
with an amazing vigor. They bounced 
into the air to strike hollowly against 
the crate above. Long before they hit 
the floor again. Pipeline solved the dif- 
ficulty by consuming them. 

P IPELINESS turned violet eyes 
_ on Penton. 

“Penton want stragath?” she asked. 
There was a distinct note of reproach' 
in her communication. Penton juggled 
frantically with suddenly animated 
stragath, while Blake grappled with 
two he had caught. 

“What in blazes are these? Are they 
food or are they animals?” The angry 
squawlihg sqeak of the things was 
mounting rapidly as they became thor- 
oughly aroused. ^.Blake dropped his 
load to the silencing, and waiting 
Pipeline. 

“Stragath,” Pipeline said, “the lat- 
est triumph of modern science. . . . 
These remarkable growths are devel- 
oped by the magnificent cooperation 
of thousands of research workers. . . . 
I’ll bet they ain’t got a dozen and the 
damn things probably aren’t fit to eat. 

. . . Research .workers combine in the 
ultimately perfect proportions every 
item of diet needed by man. . . . Most 
important of all, the stragath soon to 
be marketed by 'Thrail Stran and Com- 
pany will bring to you in delicious 
form these important elements in liv- 
ing, vital form. . . These advertising 
humbugs make me sick. ... I hear the 
damn things are alive enough so that 
when you jar them too much they start 
moving. . . Swell time I’ll have with 
them chasing all around that blasted 
blistering warehouse. . . . May be eaten 
as they naturally occur. . . At low 
temperatures they may be kept indef- 
initely without spoilage since they are 
living and hence destroy all destruc- 
tive molds or bacteria. . . . They won’t 
smell an3Tway, maybe, well you won’t 



THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS 



53 



bring any of those things into my 
house, Grag Kuolp,” 

Penton sighed and sat down. He 
had finally succeeded in pulling Pipe- 
liness away from the hole in the crate 
and had seated himself in front of it. 
The last of the visible stragath had 
been consumed, blit still there was a 
persistent, faint squawling. 

"Damn squealing, squawling brutes 
getting ready to pop . you clumsy 
oaf, pick up that crate,” Pipeliness 
commented, licking a scrap of meat 
from her paw. 

"So that’s what they are,” Blake 
said angrily. "You might have had 
the decency to warn me they’d kick 
my nose.” 

Penton started. “They’re moving 
in the crate noiW.” The squealing 
grew suddenly louder, much louder. 
It became a rapidly rising howl that, 
they realized, must be echoing 
through the whole, vast warehouse. 

“They’re over here.” Somewhere 
outside a voice shouted. The heavy 
rh3Tthmic tread of running guards 
drew nearer. Blake rose, looking at 
Penton. 

“I think we’ll have to go somewhere 
else.” 

Penton rose with his hands above 
his head. The crate overhead bal- 
anced on his hands, he suddenly 
heaved with all his power. The crate, 
bulky as it was, flew into the air to 
land with a tremendous crash some- 
where beyond. Instantly, a terrific 
howling, squealing riot of sound 
started. Blake followed the crate 
with another full of the quiescent 
stragath. The shock of landing broke 
the crate and aroused the contents. 

The two Callistan dogs were incred- 
ibly active, but the stragath were ten 
thousand to one. In rapid succession, 
Penton , crashed open four more crates. 

“That may divert them,” he said 
mildly, watching the results take 
form. 

Penton and B,Iake set out hastily, 
entirely obscured from the sight of 
approaching guards by a mad, inverted 
snowstorm of tens of thousands of 
bouncing, bounding, madly cavorting 
stragath. Behind them, guards step- 
ping on the weird things were falling 



in the resultant slippery mess. 
Blithely the Terrestrials dodged 
through mountainous heaps of goods, 
down a long lane, finally to a small 
locked door. In unison they charged 
it, their Earth-born strength proving 
too' great for the frame of the exit. 

A 

HEY don’t iook as though they 
could possibly carry that load,” 
said Penton nodding toward the great 
lumbering trucks rolling down the 
broad traffic-choked artery that par- 
alleled the harbor and docks. Im- 
mense trucks, almost lost under the 
vast heaps of merchandise loading 
them, rumbled by on wheels seemingly 
impossibly fragile. "That light grav- 
ity makes heavy loads light, and hence 
bulky. Bulky loads, my friend, sug- 
gest loads on which we can hide re- 
markably well. Won’t you join me?” 
A huge truckload of bagged goods 
of some type paused momentarily in 
the exigencies of traffic. A moment 
later it started on again. Penton and 
Blake pulled the huge bags of some 
granular, sticky substance over them. 

“Must you pick sticky stuff?” 
grunted Blake. “Wonder how — hey, 
for the — ^hey, Ted — ” 

“Sh-h — ” his friend clapped a re- 
straining hand over his mouth. “It’s 
Pipeline and company. I told you 
they wouldn’t be lost easily. They 
just jumped on the — hey, stop it Pipe- 
line. My face is clean — at any rate 
cleaner than your tongue. What hap- 
pened, couldn’t you hold any more 
stragath.^” 

“More borax,” suggested Pipeline. 
“More borax for Pipeliness.” 

For half an hour the truck rumbled 
on slowly, stopped and started in the 
slow-moving, choked traffic. Finally 
the truck turned, stopped a moment 
while something rattled noisily near 
them, then started again with a 
smooth, soundless pull of acceleration. 
Abruptly, the traffic noises changed, 
and echoing reverberations sur- 
rounded them. A Callistan called 
cheerily outside, and another an- 
swered him from the truck. 

“It’s all out,” said Penton hastily. 
“This is the delivery point, I imagine. 
We’ll have to put these felloivs to 




54 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



sleep for a while, and go on — ^we’re in- 
side a building of some kind — phew! 
Must be some sort of chemical plant.” 
Penton stirred, the sticky bag that had 
covered him moved, and he stood up- 
right. Beside him, Blake rose simul- 
taneously, and together they leaped to 
the ground. Four Callistans started 
at them in startled amazement — and 
slumped soundlessly to the ground 
after none-too-gentle taps. 

They stood on the flodr of an im- 
mense single room. Reaching up a 
hundred feet above them, and spread 
out three hundred feet in each direc- 
tion, it was as large as three football 
fields under one roof. But huge as it 
was, it was filled with enormous wood- 
en tanks coated inside and out with 
some dark plastic material. 

From the tanks, thick silvery metal 
pipes reached ijp interconnecting in a 
network of conduits leading across the 
room. Other pipes of plastic material 
led to each tank from a single huge 
reservoir at one end bf the room. 
Somewhere, huge blowers were whis- 
tling softly. 

“Whree do we go from here?” 
asked Blake. 

“Mind ?your step, you blithering 
idiot. . . . Grag Kuolp, some day you’ll 
.learn what I mean. . . . Touch one of 
those conduits, and by the Gods of 
Space, electricity will tie you in knots 
of a hundred unpleasant varieties. . . . 
Mind your step,” chanted Pipeliness. 
“Mind your step, visit us at the fifty 
pounds of borax and ten kilograms of 
boric acid.” 

Penton whistled, and looked into 
the animal’s violet eyes. 

“You can repeat only thoughts 
thunk near you, Pipeliness, but I take 
it you have an editorial ability — you 
repeat appropriate ones that make 
sense. You mean, I take it, that if we 
don’t watch our steps, we won’t visit 
the ship. Yes, you may be — wavering 
worlds, Blake — keep away from those 
metal things I” Penton was suddenly 
leaping up the wooden stairs that 
climbed the side of the nearest of the 
tanks. 

LAKE followed him swiftly, to 
pause as he neared the top. An 



overpowering odor of rank apimal life 
assailed his nostrils; an odor, he re- 
alized suddenly, the great blowers had 
been dissipating near the lower levels. 
Faltering, he reached the edge of the 
tank and, not breathing the foul odor, 
looked down. 

A Titanic mass of warm, steaming 
flesh lay there, an immense, quivering 
vat of raw meat. Into it the silvery 
pipes plunged, dividing into ten thou- 
sand tendrils. Into it the plastic tube 
fed a constant stream of frothy, bub- 
bling liquid. From that another plas- 
tic tube drew a constant stream of 
putrid-smelling fluid. Nauseated, 
Blake stumbled away, down the wood- 
en steps. A moment later Penton, his 
face greenish in hue, followed him. 
But the latter immediately started off 
across the great room to a small space 
on one side, where men had evidently 
been intended to work. 

Blake found him staring at a clear, 
glassy panel, some ten by ten feet, 
connected with the silvery tubes and 
the tnaze of plastic tubes, fitted with 
dials, valves, gauges, and wheel-con- 
trols. 

“By the Nine Gods of the Nine 
Worlds, and the multiple dieties of 
space!” Penton breathed. “These 
inen — Blake, my lad, do you know 
what that is?” Penton bent forward, 
looked at bars, pipes, instruments and 
sighed. He turned around, gaping in 
awe. “That, my boy, is a power house. 
It generates power at about 1000 volts 
D. C.” 

“Which can, of course, be raised by 
the addition of further cells in' series,” 
..interrupted the beast at their side. 
“The greatest difficulty is the size re- 
quired to obtain practical amperages. 
. . . This can be done, however. . 
Take that animal out, if you will, Pur- 
thal. . . . That’s the third time'it’s wan- 
dered in here. It belongs in Farg 
Thorun’s lecture room. ^ This can 
be done, as I was; saying, now blast 
you stay where yoU belong before I 
throttle you,” Pipeline concluded. 

Blake stared. “Electric eels — they 
have ’em trained !” 

“No, those aren’t animals — they’re 
synthetic life made to serve the func- 
tion. This is where they get the pow- 




THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS 



55 



er for the electric mechajiism of half 
the city, I imagine, for such services 
as electric controls, telephones, radio, 
telegraph. 

“But look, Blake. The operator of 
this plant must be a well paid tech- 
nician, and should, I imagine, have a 
private car. It must be in the build- 
ing somewhere. I’ll look down near 
the door the truck came in; you see 
if it’s toward the back.” Penton 
started toward the doorway as Blake 
trotted toward the dim-lit rear of the 
huge room. Pipeline and his mate 
looked at them uncertainly, then split, 
each following one of the two men. 

Penton found the vehicle, a small, 
smooth-lined sedan-type car, parked 
between two of the giant, wooden 
tanks. 

“Blake — ” he called out. Faintly, 
from the far end of the room he heard 
his friend’s answer. 

“Rod, look over that switchboard, 
and figure out which are the mains 
leading the power out to the city, and 
open those switches. I wouldn’t cut 
off the blowers, or the circulating 
pumps. That electric-flesh stuff 
might get peeved and climb out. I’ll 
look over the car.” 



CHAPTER V 

Muscletnobile 



IVE minutes later Blake found 
him sitting on the door ledge of 
the car with Pipeline before him. He 
looked up at Blake and shook his head. 
“These Callistans are the super-past- 
masters of the grand craft of life- 
molding. Take a look at the engine.” 
Blake glanced at the car, and noted 
that it was evidently rear-engined. A 
moment later he had the hood up and 
was looking at the mass of mechanism. 

“Looks like a six-cylinder radial 
type, equipped with a supercharger — 
but it’s made out of plastics. Some- 
thing like the one we rode in — and 
wrecked— on Ganymede.” 

“Huh,” grunted Penton. “Almost 
the whole car is. It’s got a metal 
frame, but on a fireless world metal is 



costly. Plastics, weight for weight, 
are nearly as strong. This isn’t 
painted blue; it is blue.” 

“The engine isn’t. It looks like 
green glass.” 

“I think I pointed out that even a 
Diesel couldn’t work in this air? 
That, my boy, is not an engine. That 
is an animal, a nice, synthetic animal.” 

“Animal! A six-cylinder animal? 
With a gear-box and ignition sys- 
tem?” 

“No, six-muscle animal. The super- 
charger is not a supercharger ; it’s a 
blower, a mechanical lung. The fuel 
tank contains not gasoline, but a sugar 
solution. I tasted it. The ignition 
system, on the other hand, is made up 
of synthetic nervous tissue, and a few, 
miniature electric cells for stimula- 
tion. Muscles, my friend, don’t need 
a high oxygen concentration ; they re- 
pair themselves, renew themselves, 
and grow stronger with use. 

“I didn’t have time to look, but I 
suspect that that animal engine also 
has a series of synthetic kidneys to 
remove waste products, and probably 
some oil-secreting cells, like the oil 
glands in your elbow, to supply lubri- 
cation. Six muscles pulling on tendons 
connected to a slip-ring — probably 
made of non-poisoning silver — a metal 
crankshaft geared direct to the 
wheels. The speedometer reads to the 
equivalent of eighty miles an hour; 
about the speed of a greyhound in 
good training.” 

Blake looked thoughtfully at the 
streamlined vehicle. 

“I. wonder, would it answer to the 
name of Rover, do you suppose?” 

“No, but it would answer to the con- 
trols, which cbnsist of nerve tissue 
stimulated by small levers. The steer- 
ing mechanism consists of four mus- 
cles worliing the front wheels.” Pen- 
ton sighed. “Rod, we Terrestrials 
never began to guess what life could 
be made to do. A muscle is three 
times as efficient as a gas engine, and 
so far as weight per horse-power goes 
— your thigh muscle weighs ten 
pounds, works at the wrong end of a 
10 to 1 lever, and can still lift three 
hundred pounds. I’ve seen you do it. 
That’s a pull of 3000 pounds from a 




56 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



ten-pound lump of watery, almost 
substanceless jelly.” 

“But oh, my friend, how tired that 
muscle can get. And it doesn’t move 
me any eighty miles an hour — even 
when P’holkuun and his whole tribe 
were after me and I was entreating it 
to do BO,” Blake pointed out. 

“What you need is a mechanical 
lung with plenty of capacity, like that 
blower, and a plastics heart, like that 
centrifugal pump I noticed. The mus- 
cles of your heart work indefinitely 
without stopping because their blood 
supply is adequate. Even a gasoline 
engine gets tired if you stick a potato 
in the exhaust pipe and clog it up with 
waste products. 

“But the important point is this ; if 
you feel convinced you can walk 
faster than this thing can go, walk — 
I’m riding. You can, however, do the 
driving, if you like. Your legs are 
longer, and I must admit that this was 
designed for an eight-footer. I’ll 
you the system.” Penton paused 
a moment.% Sounds were floating 
through the still-open door through 
which the truck had brought them. 
“Hm-m-m — ^^I think you must have up- 
set the traffic light systein from the 
sound.” ■’ 

“There did seem to be an argument 
among the truck drivers as I came 
over here. I wondered about that. 
Of course, we don’t mind an accident 
or two, but even this muscle-bound, 
leaping Lena won’t crawl over those 
trucks. Just how did you plan to help 
us make speed across the city'by plug- 
ging traffic hopelessly?” 

“Get in, and we’ll start. I’ll show 
you what I had in mind.” Penton 
grinned. Pipeline and Pipeliness 
tumbled over Penton as he climbed in 
after Blake. Cautiously Blake tested 
the controls, a little lever running 
back and forth in a slot, a' transverse 
bar that controlled direction, a single 
foot pedal that applied a friction 
brake. The car moved forward with a 
steady, smooth thrust as he advanced 
the lever in the slot. 

The wheels turned, and they were 
driving out through the great* door. 
Trucks, blocks of huge trucks stood 
in the street, bleating feebly on high- 



pitched horns that echoed unhappily 
xn the thin air. The soft whine of the 
blower under them was scarcely 
audible. 

“You can get through with this 
small car where those bulky things 
can’t — er, wiggle a muscle. Turn 
right when you get out of this drive, 
and make time.” 

Five small cars loaded with uni- 
formed guards were weaving through 
the lines of stalled trucks, sirens howl- 
ing angrily. A path was opening up 
slowly, with much backing, twisting 
and turning on the part of the trucks. 

“I think I’ll park,” suggested Blake, 
pulling to the curb. 

I 

HE guards rushed by them, head- 
ing, very evidently, for the power 
house. More guards were rushing up 
from the opposite direction. Several 
more carloads, in fact. 

“Nice of them,” grinned Blake, put- 
ting the car in motion again with a 
smooth, soundless rush. “They’ve 
opened a path for us.” 

“I^ hoped they , would,” Penton 
nodded. “Keep — ” 

“Hey — Ted — ” Blake slowed the 
car savagely, cursing bitterly. “You 
back-handed idiot, we’re headed the 
wrong way. That’s the Assembly 
Building we just got out of up there.” 

“I was worried for a minute. Get 
going. Naturally it is; how did you 
hope to get through four successive 
lines of guardsmen? Four, very alert, 
very thoroughly organized lines? 
This place here, I hope, and suspect, 
is not guarded. Did you happen fo 
recall thatnhis is the one place on the 
planet where they know they won’t 
find us? And that the failure of the 
power plant called all the guards 
available at headquarters for soothing 
innumerable traffic snarls, and other 
duties. 

“And do you suppose they stopped 
to remember that we had two ultra- 
violet guns and two dis-guns in those 
space-suits? Not so, my lad. And 
forty lines of alert guardsmen won’t 
argue with four weapons like that. 

“You may drop me at the window 
there. Sure — the fence is ornamental 
and made of wood — I know. I haven’t 




THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS 



57 



yet had a chance to get out all the 
splinters that remind me that I didn’t 
quite junip over it.” 

Blake, smiling broadly, swung the 
car. The light wooden fence sur- 
rounding the broad, parked lawn dis- 
solved in a hail of flying splinters as 
the Car shot up the rise to the white 
stone building, its wheels skidding on 
slippery, crushed grass. It paused a 
moment under huge windows, twenty 
feet from the ground, while Penton 
stepped out. 

M^OUR guardsmen stepped out of a 
JS/ door two hundred feet away, to 
see Penton flying upward in a leap 
that brought him to the window ledge. 
The guards retreated before the angry 
charge of a half ton of automobile. 
Their compressed air guns sent slugs 
that rebounded uselessly from the 
tou'gh, thick plastic of its windows. 

“The most recent weapon of civil 
defense,” stated Pipeline dogmatic- 
ally, “is expected to end the reign of 
automobile banditsl This vehicle, 
made entirely of hard metals instead 
of plastics, is mounted oh six wheels, 
each individually powered by its own 
motor of nine myscles. . . . Capable of 
a speed of nearly one hundred and 
fifty kilometers an hour it won’t do 
any good. . Those bandits haven’t 
got any respect for life at all and 
they’ll probably hold up your ware- 
house' one of these days. Get up. 
... I have to—” 

Blake noted the cause of these re- 
marks. It was made of metal, grey, 
hard metal. It had six, small, thick 
windows, and six large, heavy wheels, 
under humped, bulging motors. Mus- 
cles or not, they drove the thing at a 
crazy pace, straight for the little car. 
Blake dodged desperately. The charg- 
ing behemoth swerved angrily, its 
heavy, protruding ram held toward 
him steadily. 

Six nine-muscle motors gave it ac- 
celeration almost equal to that of the 
light vehicle; a Callistan driver in a 
Callistan vehicle gave it the needed 
edge. Desperately Blake streaked 
along the wall of the building, almost 
in front of the heavy, airmored car. 
Avoiding the dangerous, direct attack 



that Blake had hoped would pile it 
against the stout, stone wall, it paral- 
leled his track, to squeeze him against 
the wall. Desperately he braked, hop- 
ing it would overshoot. 

The light car swerved, wagged, al- 
most, on slippery grass, front wheels 
locked far to the right. The heavier 
car tore through the slippery surface 
to gravel beneath ; It held parallel to 
him exactly. Brakes off, and with the 
control at full ahead, the blower 
whined in sudden speed. The wheels 
slipped, gripped, and Blake’s car 
leaped forward. Six-wheel drive gave 
the heavier car the edge, and only 
Earth-trained quickness of perception 
enabled Blake to reverse, slew com- 
pletely around, and start- madly back 
from the trap before the other was 
after him. Desperately he tore off 
across the lawn, glancing at the rear- 
vision mirror. Speed — perhaps in 

speed — 

There was an enormous black mush- 
room sprouting there on the lawn. 
Blake slowed gently and turned 
around. An enormous mushroom of 
impalpable dust, settling very slowly 
in even this thin air. And a huge cav- 
ity, twenty feet across and unguess- 
ably deep where the armored car had 
been. Slowly Blake drove back to- 
ward the neat, round hole that had 
appeared in 'the wall of the Assembly 
Building. Penton climbed into the 
car. 

“They have the telephones working 
again,” he said cheerfully, “I don’t 
think you did a very good job on the 
power plant. Here are your guns.” 
Penton adjusted his somewhat, and 
put the blunt, heavily insulated muz- 
zle against the windshield. A neat, 
round hole appeared, large enough to 
allow the gun’s passage. Presently a 
duplicate port graced the side win- 
dow. “But it’s not all to the bad. As 
it is the airport officials will know 
what the disintegrator did to that 
armored car. I don’t think they’ll 
argue.” 

“The telephones working, eh?” 

“Yes, somebody in a pink jacket 
with pale blue pants was. yelling into 
one that all the guards were blind. I 
gave ’em a light dose of UV. Then’ll 



58 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



be all right in an hour. He was ’get- 
ting an answer, too.” 

* if 



(LAKE looked down. Callistans 
were slowly filtering back to the 
airport- they had so recently and has- 
tily deserted. The vast traffic snarl 
of the city was slowly straightening 
out as the power plant went back into 
operation, and signal lights, tele- 
phones and radios went back to work. 

“They’ve formed what guards can 
still see around that metal you left,” 
he reported. “I hope they are grate- 
ful.” 

“I know. We didn’t have to leave 
it, but on the other hand, why not? 
We had those spare plates, about five 
hundred pounds “of beryllium. They 
can get started, and treat older people, 
the sick, with the life-cells they can 
create with that. And — somehow. 
Rod, I want to keep friendly with 
those people. When we do get back 
to Earth, the things they can teach us 
will be worth knowing, and they are, 
fundamentally, a pretty decent 

bunch.” 

“Pretty decent bunch,” a|^eed Pipe- 
line, very proudly. 

Only Blake could turn around ; Pen- 
ton was busy at the controls. He was 
silent for some seconds, then he spoke 
softly. ' ^ 

“Ted, my friend, we better make 
time for Ganymede.” 

“Ganymede? P’holkuun — ” Pen- 
ton started. 

“And the shleath. No, we weren’t 



popular. But we will be, we will be. 
Did you happen to think that no 
shleath could possibly, digest Pipe- 
line? Pipeline is made of boron. But 
Pipeline, on the other hand, would 
probably enjoy a meal of — ” 

“More borax?” hopefully suggested 
Pipeline. 

“God forbid!” said Blake hastily. 
“Shleath, lots more shleath.” 

Penton looked up at Blake sud- 
denly, and grinned. 

“You are right, by Jupiter, they can 1 
A shleath can’t digest boron, of 
course, and they can destroy the 
shleath — ^but they can’t! There are 
thousands of shleath, more — ” 
“Borax,” pleaded Pipeliness. Some- 
how it sounded weak, and very satis- 
fied. 

“You,” said Blake very softly, 
“don’t know. The prof on Callisto 
said they were a very fecund race. If 
I had known, had I guessed what he 
meant, they would have got no borax 
on this ship. As it is — all I can sug- 
gest is that we hurry. Two Pipelines 
in this ship are pleasant, but — ” 
Slowly Penton looked down. Pipe- 
liness 'was sitting proudly, if some- 
what crampedly among some fifty, 
three-inch-long, six-legged, furry ani- 
mals. , 

Fifty minute, friendly tails waved in 
pleasure. , 

“Borax?” suggested fifty small, very 
friendly, mental voices. 

“No,” said Penton softly, but very 
definitely. “Not, my friends, by c 
damn sight. Not until we hit Gany- 
mede.” 



Next Issue: Penton and Blake in THE TENTH WORLD 




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FOR GEM AND EVER'-READY RAZORS 





The Power 
and the Glory 
Were His for the 
Taking, But a 
Strange Visitor 
Changed His 
Plans I 




HOLMES* FOLLY 



% EDMOND HAMILTON 

Author of "Mutiny on Europa,” "Cosmic Quest,” etc. 



T he man’s hands were clenched 
as he faced the grinning report- 
ers, and his gaunt, tired face was 
flushed a dull red, but otherwise he 
showed no sign of emotion. 

“My ship will take off tomorrow 
night and it will successfully make 
the first space flight, to the moon and 
back,” he repeated doggedly. 

“But, Doctor Holmes,” protested the 
immaculate, slightly supercilious rep- 
resentative of the New York Globe, 
“you can hardly blame the press and 
public for being skeptical, in view of 
your previous failures.” 

“Yeah,” rudely broke in the stocky, 
blatant reporter of the Daily Tabi 
“Four ships you’ve built, and not one 
of them was ever even able to leave 
the ground. And then you get mad 
because we call this one ‘Holmes’ Folly 
Number 5.’ ” 



John Holmes’ gaunt face flushed 
deeper, and his grey, toil-worn eyes 
showed what he felt. His lips were 
tightly compressed as he surveyed the 
half dozen men in front of him. 

There they were, grinning at him- in 
open incredulity and amusement, 
waiting for him to make a statement 
so they could twist and distort it for 
the entertainment of the public. The 
thick-headed, blind public, that had 
laughed so loudly at him each time his 
four former ships had failed. 

John Holmes’ clenched fingers dug 
into his palms as he stood there, re- 
membering. Then he looked beyond 
the grinning reporters, to the dull- 
looking, torpedolike metal bulk of 
Number 5, poised there beside his con- 
struction shacks on this bare hilltop. 
And from his lips burst a flood of 
long-repressed emotion. 



60 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



“You will all be here tomorrow 
night to see me fail again, won’t you?’’ 
he said in a low, taut voice to the re- 
porters. “Waiting to mock and jeer 
me again, to pillory me again as a mad 
dreamer? Well, this time you are go- 
ing to be disappointed. For this ship 
is going to rise, to venture out into 
space, for the first time, in man’s his- 
tory. 

“Yes, my other four ships failed. 
Their principle was wrong. But this 
time I have found the secret of inter- 
planetary flight. The warping of 
gravitational lines of force! Every 
planet, every celestial body, radiates a 
gravitational field. I’ve found a way 
to warp the lines of force from any 
celestial body, focusing a; great num- 
ber of them upon my little ship, con- 
centrating upon it a pull from that 
body so that the ship will be jerked 
out into space toward that other 
world.’’ 

John Holmes paused. A bitter smile 
came over his face as he saw that the 
reporters before him had not changed 
their skeptical expression. 

“You still do hot believe?” he said 
softly.- “Then be here tomorrow 
night, and see for yourselves.” 

“We’ll be here,” chuckled the Daily 
Tab writer. “We haven’t missed one 
of your shows yet.” 

“Don’t know what we’d do without 
you, Doctor Holmes, in a dull season 
like this,” another grinning- reporter 
added. 

The reporters moved off down the 
hill, laughing among themselves, 
heading toward the village from which 
their satirical, mirth-provoking stories 
would soon hum out over the wires. 

John Holmes stood looking after 
them, a lank, stooping figure in the 
twilight, bitterness still in his eyes. 

“Fools,” he muttered to himself. 
“After tomorrow night, they and their 
kind will be worshiping at my feet, 
hailing me as the greatest man alive. 
The blind, stupid applause of the mob, 
as unreasoning and meaningless as its 
ridicule.” , 

He turned, and gazed yearningly at 
the silent metal shape glinting vaguely 
in the dusk. 

“So many, many years,” he whis- 



pered. “So long, that lonely, hopeless 
work, those heart-breaking failures. 
And now, success at last. If they only 
knew— if they only knew that I’ve se- 
cretly tested this ship already, that 
already it has flashed outside the 
stratosphere and back again — ” 

He looked upward. Stars were 
pricking out in the darkening sky, the 
dull red shield of the full moon was 
rising eastward. 

“That dead globe first,” he mut- 
tered. “Then the planets. One by 
one. 

He could not sleep that night. He 
lay on the cot in the dark interior of 
his little cottage, watching the silver 
bars of moonlight, from the window 
slowly slant and circle the' 'room. A 
hushed silence wrapped the nighted 
world that he was so soon to leave, a 
breathless, waiting suspense. 

J OHN iHOLMES could stand the 
strain of it no longer, and at mid- 
night he arose restlessly from his cot. 
He looked out of the window at the 
metal thing gleaming in the moon- 
light. 

Something was moving out there! 
A dark shape, stealing between the 
shacks toward, the silver ship. Holmes’ 
brain sounded a frantic alarm instant- 
ly. He snatched a revolver from a 
desk, jerked open the door and moved 
with soundless swiftness through the 
shadows after that furtive -intruder. 

Now he saw the other more clearly. 
It was the dark figure of a stooping 
man, carrying a square, heavy burden. 
Holmes saw the prowler put down 
that burden under the curving bow of 
the little ship. Then the intruder 
stealthily retreated, trailing some- 
thing behind him. Trailing cords, or 
wires — . 

Wires? .Suddenly Holmes under- 
stood, with a wild throb of panic. 
That square burden — explosives of 
some sort that this prowler had placed 
under Number 5! Arid now the other 
was retreating, pa3ring out behind him 
the wires that would enable him to 
detonate the explosive and destroy the 
ship. 

John Holmes ran wildly out into the 
open moonlight. The other had 



HOLMES’ FOLLY 



61 



reached the edge of the hilltop, and 
was bending down over the wires that 
led back to the ship.. He must be get- 
ting ready to detonate the~ charge — 

Holmes fired. The shot cracked 
thinly in the moonlight. The prowler 
collapsed limply, and lay feebly stir- 
ring on the ground. As the scientist 
ran toward him, he saw that the other 
was still trying to find the wires with 
weakly moving arms, to detonate the 
charge. 

Holmes was quickly upon the other 
and kicked the wires out of his grasp. 
In blind panic for his life’s work, the 
scientist ran back toward the ship, 
snatched up the wooden case of ex- 
plosives from under its bow, and car- 
ried it to a safe distance. Only then, 
trembling and gasping from the nar- 
rowness of the escape, did he return 
to the man he had shot. 

That man lay unmoving now in the 
moonlight, his face turned to the sky. 
It was, an oddly flat, dead-white face, 
button-nosed, the eyes covered by big 
dark spectacles. All of his body but 
his face was covered by dark clothing, 
hat and gloves. 

His arms twitched feebly. Roughly, 
Holmes picked him up and carried him 
into the cottage. He dumped him on 
the cot and then turned on the light. 
And then he turned to the limp figure 
on the cot, his gaunt face grim and 
merciless. 

“Damn you!’’ he muttered in hate. 
“What crazy idea made you want to 
destroy my ship? I’m glad I got you 
— glad you’re dying, do you hear?’’ 

The other’s voice came in a faint, 
hissing whisper from his thin, slitlike 
mouth. 

"Koto — water — ’’ 

“You try to destroy my life’s work, 
on the very eve of my success, and 
then ask me for water,” raged John 
Holmes. “No, you’ll get nothing from 
me, not even that.” 

’The odd, gashlike mouth in the 
dead-white face hissed feebly again. 
“Koto—” 

Holmes frowned wrathfully down 
at the dying man, his breast still seeth- 
ing with fury. At last he strode to the 
sink in the corner and brought back a 
cup of water that he forced roughly 



against the dying man’s thin lips. 

The water slopped and dribbled over 
the chin and coat of , the other. He 
sighed, as Holmes took the cup away. 

“Who the devil are you?” the scien- 
tist grated. “What made you want to 
wreck my ship?” 

He reached down and snatched away 
the big dark spectacles.. The eyes of 
the dying man looked up at him. 

John Holmes froze. Those eyes 
were not human eyes. They were 
enormous, round, shining, faceted eyes 
like those of an, insect, yet glimmer- 
ing with a dying intelligence. 

Frozen, Holmes stared down into 
them. Then his hand reached and 
pulled aside the coat and shirt of the 
creature. The shirt was soaked with 
green blood; Beneath it was revealed 
a wholly unhuman body, covered by 
an exoskeleton of hard, shiny green 
chitin. 

HALF dozen short, horny limbs 
extended along each side of this 
alien, arthropoid body. To two of 
them were attached jointed metal 
arms that ran through the coat sleeves 
to simulate human arms, and to two 
lower ones were affixed similar arti- 
ficial legs. This was a totally unhu- 
man and unterrestrial thing, dis- 
guised cleverly as a human. 

“In God’s name — ^who — what — ” 
John Holmes choked, staring. 

The head, that unhuman head that 
by means of cunning surgery and 
white pigment and a wig had been dis- 
guised into semblance of humanity, 
jerked feebly. The slitlike mouth 
opened. 

“Orlu,” it murmured. “I have failed, 
Orlu — I am dying — ” 

“Orlu?” repeated John Holmes 
frozenly. 

The fading, faceted eyes looked up 
into his. “I am Thai of Orlu— the 
world you call Mars,” the creature 
whispered. “My people there — all 
like me. Our civilization there is old 
— older than man — ” 

The faceted, dying eyes held some- 
thing strangely akin to human heart- 
break. 

“Long ago we came to this Earth of 
yoUrs, secretly exploring.. In ships — 




62 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



much like this one you have built. 
When we found you living, intelligent 
creatures here, we thought at first — to 
make ourselves known to you. So that 
we of Orlu and you of Earth might 
travel and trade between our worlds. 

“But — when we saw the nature of 
your people, we saw it could not be. 
Fierce, cruel, avid for conquest, these 
hordes of man — they would not be our 
friends. They would take what we 
could teach them, but once they 
learned from us how to build ships of 
space they would sooner or later de- 
scend in them on Orlu — conquer my 
peaceful people, exterminate us as 
they have exterminated other species 
here. We saw that they must not learn 
of us, must not learn how to build 
ships that would take them to Orlu — ” 

The hissing whisper that was -Thai’s 
voice grew weaker, charged with in- 
finite despair. 

“A few of our race, disguised as 
human beings, were left here. Their 
mission, to prevent men from learning 
how to venture into space. But we 
few — it was hard for us to live long 
on this alien world, we died one by 
one. I, Thai, am the last of the secret 
spies of Orlu on this world. And I — 
I have failed my people — 

“Yes, the doom of my race is at my 
door. I knew when I read of your new 
ship that it would succeed, would 
pierce space and enable your people at 
last to descend on Orlu. I came to de- 
stroy the ship and you. And I failed 
—failed—” 

John Holmes listened like a man in 
a dream. The faceted eyes of Thai 
were losing their light, the intelli- 
gence behind them slipping away. 
The thick green blood flowed more 
rapidly from the' bullet hole in the 
creature’s chitin breast. 

Silence, a deep silence of moments 
in which the creature on the cot and 
the man of Earth stared at each other. 
Then the multiple arthropoid limbs of 
Thai stirred weakly in a last, nerve- 
less twitch. 

“To die so far from Orlu,” he whis- 
pered. “On this alien world — ” 

Suddenly the grotesque, limbs were 
still, the faceted eyes blank and dead. 

John Holmes, his gaunt face a rigid 



mask, stood looking down at the dead 
creature on the cot for a long time. 

Then, moving slowly, he took a 
spade from a corner and went out into 
the moonlight to begin digging a 
grave for Thai of Orlu. 

I T was the following night, and the 
crowd that had gathered on the 
hilltop was so dense that watchful au- 
thorities had strung a rope barrier 
around John Holmes’ workshop and 
ship. A monotone of chatting, laugh- 
ing voices rose from the crowd as they 
waited. Photographers were prepar- 
ing their cameras, and expectant re- 
porters waited. 

A gay shout went up from the 
crowd. 

“Here he comes! There’s Holmes!” 
“Bring us back a piece of green 
cheese from the moon. Holmes!” a 
voice shouted. 

There was a roar of laughter, and it 
was followed by other barbed jests. 

“Try to get her a foot off the ground 
this time, won’t you?” 

“How about us giving you a shove 
to get you started. Holmes?” 

John Holmies did not appear to hear 
the chorus of mocking ' shputs as he 
walked steadily from his cottage to- 
ward the little ship. His gaunt face 
was set and colorless, and he paid no 
heed to the popping flashlights of the 
grinning photographers, or the rapid- 
fire questions of the reporters who ran 
alongside him. 

At the door of the ship he turned, 
and spoke for the first time. 

“You had better stand back,” he told 
the newspapermen. “There will be a 
backrush of air when the ship leaves 
the earth.” 

“That!s all right — ^we’ll ' take a 
chance,” grinned one of the reporters. 

“Get set to snap the ship as she goes, 
up !” another called mock-seriously to, 
the photographers. 

A wave of laughter went up as the 
crowd heard the joke. It was punc- 
tuated by a steady, grinding sound as 
John Holmes entered the little ship 
and screwed shut the round door. 

The laughter and calling voices died 
away into silence, as a steady hum- 
ming became audible from inside the 



HOLMES’ FOLLY 



63 



craft. The hiimming grew louder. 
F6r a moment, there was almost an air 
of suspense in the crowd. A few of 
the reporters began to edge back, 
nervous. 

Then suddenly there came a loud, 
crashing bang from inside the ship. 
It was followed by dead silence. The 
humming had abruptly stopped. 

A roar of mirth crashed up from the 
crowd, and the chorus of laughing 
cries broke forth anew. 

“She’s busted, just like the others !’’ 

The round door of the ship opened, 
and John Holmes came slowly out, his 
shoulders sagging, defeat written oh 
his face. 

"The mechanism failed — wrecked 
itself,’’ he said tonelessly to the re- 
porters. “Number S ’* — ^he seemed to 
swallow hard — “Number 5 is a failure, 
like my other ships.’’ 

"That’s all right. Doctor Holmes,’’ 
the newspapermen told him, trying in 
vain to hide their smiles. "You can 
build another ship; you’ll hit on it 
yet.” 

John Holmes shook his head dully. 

"No, I will never build another ship. 
Space travel — space travel is beyond 
human science, as yet.” 

The crowd, drifted away down the 
bill, still laughing. A few souvenir 
hunters prowled around the ship for a 



while, staring curiously at John 
Holmes standing motionless by the 
door of the craft. Then they followed 
the others. 

John Holmes found himself alone. 
He could hear the voices of the list of 
the crowd, drifting back Up the hill to 
him through the moonlight. 

“The old crank sure worked long 
enough at it before he got some sense, 
didn’t he?” 

A laugh, and, “I guess five Holmes 
Follies were enough even for him.” 

John Holmes turned slowly and 
looked in through the open door into 
his ship, at the mechanism in there 
that he had just deliberately wrecked 
with his own hands. He stared at it 
a long while, an infinite aching in his 
eyes. 

But when he turned his gaze toward 
the spot beside bis cottage where the 
spy of Orlu lay buried, he nodded 
slowly. And he spoke, as though to 
the dead creature in that grave. 

“You of Orlu were right, Thai,” he 
whispered. ‘Tt is not time yet for we 
men to venture out into space, to carry 
our wars and persecutions and con- 
quests to other, peaceful worlds. 

“Maybe, some day when we have put 
aside hate and war and conquest, an- 
other John Holmes will build another 
ship. Some day — ” 



IN THE NEXT ISSUE 



THE MIND MAGNET 







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A Novelette of the Stratosphere 

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A BRAND-NEW, FASCINATING FEATURE 



if Jb I 



NO MAN CAN SEE MORE 
THAN 192 MILES! 

■^R. WILLIAM BOWIE, of the 
MW U. S. Geodetic Survey, declares 
that 192 miles is “the longest observed 
line” possible in the world. This was 
achieved with helioscopes using mir- 
rors 12, inches in diameter. 

He cites the line between Mt. St. 




Helena and Mt. Shasta, a distance 
equal to 192 miles. It is “the largest 
geodetic ray ever secured.” It was 
obtained in triangulation work. 

In considering the ability of the eye 
to recognize objects on Earth at a dis- 
tance, we must consider two impor- 
tant limitations imposed by the earth 
Itself — the curvature of its. surface 
and the density of the atmosphere. 

THREE THINGS YOU CAN'T DOI 

Y OU cannot unroll tire tape with- 
out making light. The separa- 
tion of the tightly adhering surfaces 
produces a glow easily visible in the 
dark. . It is absolutely impossible 
to shoot a bullet from a revolver or a 
rifle horizontally. Regardless of the 
speed of the forward moving pro- 
jectile, the bullet always falls due to 
the effect of gravitation upon it. Con- 
sequently, the path of the bullet is al- 



WALTE^ 



ways curved. . . You can’t walk 
without generating electricity. Even 
if there is no friction the impact 
causes electrification. 

THE GREATEST THREE-FIGURE 
NUMBER 

M LUISANT, mathematician of 
© the Paris Ecole Polytech- 
nique, has calculated that the greatest 
number that can possibly- be written 
with three figures is 

The result is a number with 369,- 
693,100 figures — the first is 4, the last 
figure of it is a 9. It will take more 
than 28 years and 48 days to write the 
result of this calculation, assuming 
one individual wrote one figure a sec- 
ond, ten hours a day, every day in the 
year. 

The paper on which the figures are 
written would stretch from New York 
to Chicago! 

ICE CAN MELT RED HOT IRON! 

PIECE of ice can melt a red hot 
sheet of iron. A red hot piece 
of iron, if placed about a half inch 
above a piece of ice, when given a vig- 
orous blow will descend and crush the 
ice, causing it to change into water, 
then into hydrogen and oxygen gas, 
which will explode and very often 
melt the piece of iron, 

YOU CAN SEE WITH YOUR 
SKIN! 

HERE are many different varie- 
ties of nerve endings in the skin 
which modern histologists have dem- 
.onstrated as being in the outer layer 
64 





SCIENTIFACTS 



65 



of the dermis (the sensitive layer of 
skill, beneath the epidermis). 

There is another form of nerve end- 
ing described as occurring in the epi- 
dermis of a pig’s snout ; these nerve 
endings are composed of microscopi- 
cal expansions interposed between the 
cells. Professor Lewis Farigoutte, 
of the University of Paris, says that 
these forms of nerve endings have to 
do with the sense of touch, and some 
of them are also associated with the 
sense of vision. 

He pictures the microscopic expan- 
sion as being little eyes, and thus, that 
a collection of a group in certain parts 
of the body would constitute a com- 
pound eye. The visual impulses origi- 
nating from the skin: are then trans- 
mitted via the central nervous system, 
in the same manner that the impulses 
from the eye are conveyed to the opti- 
cal lobe or any other center of sight. 

Professor Farigoutte has been ex- 
perimienting his theories on the hyp- 
notized blind, and thus far claims to 
have had encouraging puccess. 

ALL THE WATER IN THE 
WORLDl 

S T would require a gigantic steel 
tank 691 miles on a side, forming 
a cube, to hold the 330,000,000 cubic 




miles of water comprising all our riv- 
ers, lakes and oceans. 

This huge reservoir would extend 
from Washington, D. C., to Jackson- 
ville, Florida, and if the water was al- 
lowed, to escape from the huge tank 
over falls equivalent in size to Niagara 
Falls, it would require seventy thou- 
sand centuries for it to empty! 

THE MOON IS NOT FROZEN! 

OU can boil water on the moon! 
According to Donald H. Menzel,. 



Ph.D., of Lick Observatory, the tem- 
perature of the hottest portions of the 
moon is about 120° C (250° F) — hot- 
ter than boiling water. The theory, 
then, that the moon is a frozen waste 
is more than unconfirmed. 

The moon’s heat was measured with 
a device for detecting the heat of 
heavenly bodies, the thermocouple. 
The lunar radiation comes from that 
part of the moon’s surface upon which 
the sun’s rays are most incident per- 
pendicularly. 

THESE GIANT INSECTS!. 

HE strength of various insects, in 
proportion to that of man, is phe- 
nomenal. If a man could lift as much 




in proportion as a mere beetle can, a 
200 pound man could lift 1000 lbs. A 
honey bee can carry 23 times its own 
weight. But the English entomolo- 
gist, Weir, p^oints out a still more in- 
credible fact peculiar to the insect 
world. 

The Hercules beetle, weighing only 
one-fifth of an ouqce, can carry a load 
on its back that weighs 5^4 lbs.! 

LARGE BRAINS DO NOT MEAN 
INTELLIGENCE 

REAT intellect and large brains 
do not always go together. When 
Anatole France, the brilliant author, 
died in 1924, he directed that his brain 
be weighed. The result showed ^ 
weight of 1,190 grams — decidedly less 
than the average. A typical brain of 
a man weighs about 1,300 grams. The 
brain of France was exceedingly 
whrinkled, however. Anatomists be- 
lieve that there are more and deeper 
convolutions in the brains of intelligent 
persons. 







Tlie CAVERN ®f the 



A Complete Novelette 
An Adventyre in 
Relativity 



I Cied the trinite 







CHAPTER I 

The Ether Eddy 

JERKED down the result-lever 
of my Merton Calculator, and 
the rattle of its gears was loud 
in the deserted reaches of Flight Con- 
trol Headquarters. The flight-graph 
imprinted itself on the space-chart, 
the thin red line that would guide the 
newly launched Photos on her maiden 
voyage to Venus. I glanced, through 
the transparent quartz wall at her tre- 
mendous bulk, vague on the vast tar- 
mac of New York’s Spaceship Ter- 
minus in the brooding dark of 3 a.m. 

The graph line I had just traced 
jogged erratically, a million and a 
half milef out, detouring the Photos’ 
course a hundred thousand miles. 
That hump was why I was here, alone 
in the crystal hive. At midnight the 
message had pulsed in on the infra- 
red ray from the domed air-cell on 



Gyrd Siltesi Speeds 



C©sm©s to 



66 



gun with a prayer 



the Moon where gaunt men ceaseless- 
ly scan the skies that Trade may ply 
unhampered between Earth and her 
sister planets. 

In their electelscopes a far-flung 
shimmer had appeared across the 
blackness of space and they had 
leaped to send warning of the one un- 
conquered menace that harried the 
spaceways. An ether eddy! 

Sometimes I thought the old memo- 
ries drowned, the thirty-year long 
agony ended, that had wiped out for 
me forever the^thrill of space flight, 
the transcendant joy of leaping from 
this wrinkled ball of ours and hurt- 
ling, godlike, among the stars. Then 
that word, that damned word that had 
stripped the winged rocket from my 
tunic and made of me a half alive jug- 
gler of charts and figures, would 
strike my ears. The years would fade 
and I would be in hell again. 

As now. I saw Jay again, my 




68 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



brother, too poignantly real across the 
span of three decades. I saw the 
wide-shouldered, thick-legged bulk of 
him, a strand of yellow hair strag- 
gling over his brow, his broad-planed 
face, flushed with the excitement of 
his first command. 1 felt my hand 
crushed in his own as I wished him 
the immemorial “Happy landing." 

The LuiJns^s hatch shut him from my 
sight. The great craft 'blasted-off 
from Earth. Tlje scene shifted. In 
tortured imagining I bent over an 
electelscope view field, pride pulsing 
in my veins as I watched the long, 
clean arc of his flight. He had learned 
my teaching well, the barttling. He 
would, push me hard for my laurels 
as ace of Earth’s space fleet. 

Then there was that black shim- 
mer across the firmament’s spangled 
black. The Luna plunged straight 
into it— and vanished! 

There — where a moment ago she 
had been, even in her tininess, ma- 
jestic as a symbol of man’s conquest 
of unimaginable distances, unrealiz- 
able cold — there the inscrutable 

panoply of the stars stared horror at 
me and only a faint trail of rocket 
gas, glowing and fading in the va- 
cancy, showed that the Luna had ever 
been. 

In the madness that took me, I 
ripped the insignia of my craft from 
my blouse and swore that never again 
should I leave Earth’s atmosphere. I 
kept that oath, but my great need 
drew me back to this place where the 
space ships, in ever increasing num- 
bers, leaped for the stars. 

Here, while I moldered in the dull 
routine of my clerk’s job, I could 
watch the swaggering youngsters who 
wore the winged rocket and pretend 
to myself that perhaps the next craft 
to land would bring Jay back to me. 
Here I had grown old. . , . 

T he little hairs prickled on the 
nape of my neck. The silence 
about me was eerie, the shadows 
played tricks on. my overwrought 
nerves. Somehow I felt that I was 
not alone. And I was afraid. 

A furtive sound whispered behind 
me. My eyes flicked the desk for a 



weapon, fouqd none. I forced my 
swivel chair around, every nerve pro- 
testing. 

A tall figure stood in the dimness 
near the door, black-cloaked, shape- 
less. Beneath its black hood was the 
pale oval of a face out of which eyes 
glittered, catlike, in some vagrant 
gleam. The figure was motionless, 
and all the more menacing because of 
its immobility. I thought of the lead- 
capsuled radium in the strongroom 
beyond my desk, the pellets that mul- 
tiplied tenfold the power of the oxy- 
hydrogen mixture in the fuel tanks. 
Five million solar dollars would not 
replace them. But what thief would 
dare the photroncells’ spray of death 
that guarded .the treasure? 

The intruder moved. 

“Who are you?” I rasp,ed. “What 
do you want?" 

A voice came from the shape, a 
strained, hoarse voice. 

“I’m looking for Captain Silton.’’^ 

Unaccountably blood thumped in 
my ears. My collar was suddenly 
tight. 

“I’m Silton,” ;I grunted. 

“But I mean Gurd Silton, com- 
mander of the Teria.” 

Long shivers raii through me, and 
a mad, impossible thought clai:jored. 
That voice! 

“I am Gurd Silton,” I croaked. “And 
once I commanded the Terra” I was 
no longer afraid. The ague that shook 
me was not of fear. 

“You — you Gurd Silton!” The 
other’s arm came up. Shrouded by 
the fabric of his cloak it pointed at 
me like a bat’s wing. “You — impos- 
sible. You are an old man, and — ” 

I heaved from my chair. 

“Who are you?" I said. “In God’s 
name, who are you?” 

I hurled myself across the space be- 
tween, ripped the cloak away before 
he could stop me, jerked the hood 
from his head. And then I saw him 
— tousled yellow hair, a long strand 
dipping across his clear brow; frank 
grey eyes, small novv in puzzlement; 
broad-planed, youthful face. I saw 
wide shqulders and thick legs planted 
in an old, familiar stance. Sound 
ripped from my throat. “Jay!” 



THE CAVERN OF THE SHINING POOL 



69 



He warded me off. 

“I’m Jay Silton, all right. But 
you’re white-haired, wrinkled! You’re 
an old man. You can’t be Gurd!’’ 

A queer rage thickened my utter- 
ance. 

“What did you expect? Thirty 
years don’t leave a man’s hair black.’’ 

And then it hit me! Jay wasn’t 
changed at all. He was still, apparent- 
ly, a youth of twenty! 

He was staring at me with wide, in- 
credulous eyes. 

“Thirty years,’’ he whispered. 
“Why, it’s only a month since-:—’’ 

Chaos whirled within my skull. 
Was I still in the delirium that had 
followed his vanishment, my long 
Calvary only a nightmare? I saw the 
space-chart, saw the date imprinted 
at its upper edge. November 16, 2046! 
I pointed to it. 

“Look!” I said huskily. 

My brother stared at the paper. A 
vein pulsed in his neck. He drew the 
back of a closed fist across his fore- 
head and words dripped from , his 
working mouth. 

“But I swear it’s not a month since 
we — lost our way. Why, there’s still 
food left on the Luna and we had only 
a month’s supply.” 

His hand came out in a gesture of 
utter bewilderment. 

“Gurd! Where have all the years 
gone?” His voice was edged with 
hysteria, a long shudder ran through 
him. “Sanders is lost,” he muttered, 
“and Hollivant. And there are thirty 
years gone from my life!” 

M adness flamed in his eyes. I 
must ease him somehow, say 
anything to divert his thoughts from 
the horror. 

“By the way. Jay, I didn’t see the 
Luna land. Where Is she?” 

“Hidden in the Adirondack Plea- 
sure Park, in a glen where nobody 
goes, r didn’t dare land her here.” 

I was startled. 

“Why? Of what are you afraid?” 
I recalled his furtive entrance, his 
close-swathed hood cloak and low- 
drawn hoqd. 

“Afraid? I told you my mates are 
gone. Have you forogtten Rule 



Forty-nine?” 

A chill ran through me. Rule 
Forty-nine is the most rigorously en- 
forced of all the Space Code. In case 
of disaster to a vessel, her commander 
must be the last to seek safety. If he 
return minus crew or passengers the 
penalty is — death in the lethal cham- 
ber! 

Severe this may be, but justified. 
Too often, in the early days, did space 
madness seize crew and master alike. 
Too often did craft land, with one, 
only, alive of those who had blasted- 
off. It was the one solution, to place 
all weapons in control of the master, 
and hold him straitly accountable for 
the safety of alT aboard. 

“Jayl” my voice cracked. “You 
didn’t—” 

“No.” There was utter truth in the 
grey eyes. “Of course not.” 

“But where are they? Are they 
alive?” 

“That’s the hell of it, Gurd. I don’t 
know whether they are dead or alive. 
I don’t know where they are.” 

If I was to help him I must get 
him talking sense. 

“Come now. Jay,” I rapped out, 
sternly. " “You must have some idea of 
where in the universe you have been.” 

I could see that ne was trying to 
pull himself together, trying to 
phrase something unphrasable. His 
hands fisted at his sides. Then, “Gurd ! 
It sounds insane. But — ^but I don’t 
think it was anywhere in the uni- 
verse.” 

“What! You^” 

Cold, rasping words, interrupted 
me. Toneless words from across nine 
hundred thousand miles of space. 
“Newyork, Newyork, Newyork,” the 
speaker disc above my desk blared. 
From Lunar Observatory. Ether eddy 
is fading. Ether eddy is fading. Cor- 
rections need not be made. From 
Lunar Observatory. Newyork, New- 
york, Newyork. .” 

Jay’s arms flung above his head, and 
he shouted incredible things. 

“That’s where they are! In that 
eddy or beyond it! That’s where I 
came from. It’s going, and my last 
chance is gone! My last chance to 
find them, to save them! 



i70 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



In a flash I knew what must be done. 
J grabbed Jay’s arm. 

“Come on, quick!” Without his 
mates or a witness to hi& non-culpa- 
bility for their loss, death was certain 
for him. “We still have tirnie!” What 
happened to me did not matter. 
Hurry!” 

We were out of the room, were 
darting across the tarmac. The Pho- 
bos loomed its dark bulk over us, and, 
praise be, its entrance hatch was open. 
I plunged through. Jay after' me. 

“Close down,” I shauted. “Close 
down!” The^Rrst command of a space 
flight. How long since I had uttered 
it! 



CHAPTER II 



Into a New Universe 






HURTLED up the companion- 
way, fcdlowed by the clangor of 
the shutting air-lock hatch. Thirty 
years since I had flown, yet all the 
old, hard won spacemanship tingled 
at my^ finger-tips as I burst into the 
control room and saw before me a 
gleaming bank of levers and fuel 
wheels. 

Jay’s staccato report met me, from 
the speaker disc above the gauge- 
board. “All tight, sir.” Just as in 
the years when I taught hinj the se- 
crets of the void. 

“Make it so, mister,” I acknowl- 
edged in the unforgotten jargon. 
“Stand by for the blast-off.” Not for 
nothing had I conned the plans of 
this latest product of the spaceship 
engineers, assuaging nostalgia in vi- 
carious flight. Thfere was no lost mo- 
tion now as I dived for the protec- 
tive couch, snapped straps around me, 
and jammed down the main-feed 
lever. I functioned almost automati- 
cally, thrown back a third of a cen- 
tury to the old routine. 

The surge , of sudden vast power, 
the down-thudding of acceleration’s 
weight, was a trip-hammer blow to 
my unaccustomed flesh. For an in- 
stant I knew the ‘ agonies of the 
damned, then merciful oblivion took 
me. 




I do not know how long I was un- 
conscious, nor what awesome speed 
the Photos attained before the Thor- 
son electro-spring cut off fuel flow. 
But when sight and thought returned. 
I saw, in the visi-screen, the blackness 
of space, the wide-spread panoply of 
stars infinite in distance and number 
that I had thought never to set my 
eyes upon again, and the ominous 
shimmer of the ether eddy, straight 
ahead. 

Terror jerked my unwilled hand 
to the braking valve, but it was too 
late. The Phobos plunged straight 
into the heart of the mystery from 
whence my brother had cOme. 

In that instant livid fingers 
reached, twisting, into my brain! 

The Phobos jarred. That jar seemed 
repeated in every atom of my being. 
Light poured in, a vivid, red light 
that paled the gleam of our argons, a 
crimson light that smote all color 
from the cabin. I whirled to the visi- 
screen. 

And then I was at the lever-bank, 
furiously, frantically active. I had 
seen a great orb blotting out the sky, 
a gigantic, scarlet sphere toward 
which we hurtled headlong. 

The Phobos vibrated, screeched 
protest at the forces that tore at her. 
Great, whirling, scarlet clouds became 
distinct, blanketing the strange world 
that had us in its grip. A craggy 
spire thrust above the vapor, spear- 
ing to impale our vessel. 

The nose-tubes were on full force 
and they couldn’t brake her ! In min- 
utes, in seconds, we should crash 
against the red world into infinitesi- 
mal fragments. It wasn’t thought, it 
was sheer instinct unforgotten after 
thirty years that guided my flashing 
hands among the wheels and levers. 
There was no time for thought. 



THE CAVERN OF THE SHINING POOL 



71 



I swung her! I swung the Photos 
half about as she hurtled to her dckim, 
and with the ma«imum blast of her 
main tubes I detoned her into a side- 
ward path, parallel to the rounding 
surface of the strange planet. 

That held her! By the horns of 
Taurus, that held the craft in a cir- 
cling orbit, made her a satellite of 
the cloud-shrouded crimson world! 

I slumped, breathless, and stared at 
the five-fold visi-screen. In one divi- 
sion I saw the mist-clothed, encarna-> 
dined bulk of the world whose attrac- 
tion had nearly done for us. To the 
side, and far off, an immense sun sent 
scarlet streamers writhing out from 
a scarlet, dazzling disc. In the other 
sectors the firmament was revealed; 
a black firmament, star-studded. In 
all that vast panoply of worlds and 
suns there was not one familiar con- 
stellation! They were strange, all 
strange. 

M VOICE, a blessed human voice, 
broke the stillness. > 

“Gurd! Are you all right?” Jay 
leaned against the hatch, his face 
ghastly in the weird red light, his 
pupils unnaturally enlarged, the cor- 
ner of his mouth twitching, 

“A little dazed, but whole. And 
you?” 

His lips tried to twist into a smile. 
“I? Oh, I’ve been through this b^ 
fore.” 

“Then this is what we are looking 
for. This is where you lost Holli- 
vant and Sanders.” 

He nodded. “If they’re still alive, 
they’re down there. We broke 
through, like this. Just as you just 
did, I swung the Luna about and 
forced her into a circling orbit. 

“I did more. I turned my ship 
again, so that her stern w^s toward 
that world and tried to blast her away. 
But I couldn’t, Gurd; The attraction 
was too great. We were held tight.” 
“But the Luna was powered to es- 
cape from Jupiter,” I exclaimed, 
“against five times Earth’s gravity !” 
"It wasn’t enough. W« were 
chained here, eternity doomed. I 
dared not land, not knowing what lay 
under those clouds and not .being 



equipped for interplanetary explora- 
tion. We circled endlessly, seeing 
below nothing but those rolling mists, 
now scarlet in the light of the crim- 
son sun, now black as we passed over 
the night hemisphere. I refused to 
attempt a landing, hoping reasonless- 
ly that patience would bring release. 

“At length Hollivant and Sanders 
demanded permission to take space 
suits and make the attempt. I did not 
feel justified in refusing. I opened the 
air-lock for them, watched their bulky 
shapes spiral down, black against the 
red-lighted clouds, the long-darting 
flames of their gas-tubes streaming 
ahead of them to brake their descent. 
I saw them land on that peak we 
glimpsed, the only evidence that the 
strange planet is solid. And then — ” 

“What?” 

“And then the Luna jarred. The 
crimson light was gone, and in the 
visi-screen I saw Orion with his 
sword, I saw White Rigel and topaz 
Betelgeuse blazing in splendor. The 
white blaze of our own Sun warmed 
me, and little Earth was a green disc 
calling me home.” 

“You had plunged through the 
ether eddy again!” 

“I guessed that. But, Gurd. What 
does it all mean? What is this strange 
universe, and what became of the 
thirty years that seem to me less than 
a month?” 

Somehow I' knew the answer, must 
have reasoned it out subconsciously 
as he spoke. “Science has moved while 
you were gone. Jay. We know now 
that the ether eddy is the manifesta- 
tion of a fourth dimensional tangency 
between two spatial hyperspheres. 
*You remember your high school 
Einstein, don’t you?" 

“Of course. I get it. Einstein said 
space, .our space, is unbounded but 
finite, the three-dimensional surface 
of a hypersphere within which, and 
without, nothing exists that is in any 
way related to anything in our space. 
What’s happened is that we’ve — ” 

* The figure In four-dlmenelonal geometry that 
la analogoua to a sphere in three-dimensional, 
l.e., the figure described by a sphere rotated 
through the fourth dimension, os a circle Is 
rotated through the third dimension to describe 
a biphsre. ^ 



72 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



"Broken through into another 
space. Another universe. And since, 
as you said, nothing in this space has 
any relation to anything in ours, their 
Times are different, so that it is per- 
fectly reasonable that while you, here, 
were living only a month I, there, 
aged thirty years.” 

“Yes, but — ” He didn’t finish his 
sentence. At least I didn’t hear him 
finish it. For I had kept my eyes on 
the electelscope viewplate as we 
talked, and just then, the Photos hav- 
ing completed a circuit of the red 
planet, the black peak came into its 
field. And I had caught a flicker of 
movement on its surface. 

S T was an Earthman, his space 
suit unmistakable! He seemed to 
be struggling with something. A bil- 
low of cloud spurted upward and he 
was lost to view. 

“They’re ahve,” I blurted. “One of 
them is alive. We’ve got to go down 
there.” 

I managed it. With a gentle side 
discharge of the rocket flares I 
changed our level circling to a slow, 
tightening spiral. Each circuit we 
made through the shifting changes 
from black night to crimson day 
brought us nearer and nearer the 
clouds, and then after an interminable 
time, we were among them. 

We were through them! We were 
over a great, almost level plain, black 
as the belly of Jonah’s whale. We 
landed, gently as thistledown, right at 
the base of the needlelike spire that 
pierced the clouds. 

“How’s that for navigating?” I 
grinned. “The old boy hasn’t lost his 
skill.” 

“Swell,” Jay applauded. “But 
what’s to do now? We can’t climb 
that mountain. It must be fifty miles 
high.” 

“Into space suits,” I snapped. “And 
the Photos carries a small stratocar as 
a lifeboat. If there’s any atmosphere 
at all, and there- must be or there 
wouldn’t be any clouds, that will take 
US' up there quicker than we came 
down.” 

“Let’s get going then. The fellows 
need our help, bad.” 



“We’ll get going, but I’m afraid 
we’re too late. Time’s all mixed up. 
Jay, by our circling, but I figure a 
week at least has passed here since 
we saw him, although only minutes 
in the time of this universe elapsed 
while you came back to Earth and we 
returned.” 

“Never mind that. We’ve got to 
make a try.” 

“Okay. I’m with you,” I responded. 
“Don’t forget these trinite guns. I’ve 
got a hunch we’re going to need them 
badly.” 

The buzzing hum of the stratocar’s 
hydroxy motor battered against the 
side of that incredible mountain as we 
lifted straight up to its summit. Sud- 
denly, just under the cloud ceiling I 
saw a hole in the rampart, underlined 
by a narrow ledge. And on that ledge 
— the broken off hand-claw of a space 
suit. 

“In there ! They’re in there,” I 
shouted. It, was with an effort that I 
controlled my shaking hand sufficient- 
ly to land our little conveyance on the 
ledge. Bulky in our space suits, we 
squeezed out; stood precariously on the 
rock shelf. 

The cave that confronted us 
seemed shallow, a blank wall closed it 
only six feet back. But a tunnel 
angled off to the left, so sharply that 
light, reflected not at all by the dull 
surface of black rock, did not enter it. 
'My tentative, testing step felt a level 
floor in that Stygian darkness, and in 
the sensitive ear of my space suit I 
heard the scrape of Jay’s feet follow- 
ing me. 

The jointed metal of my garment 
made sudden, echoing clangor as I 
thumped into vertical stone. I froze. 
Surely that clumsy sound would 
arouse the mysterious denizens of 
this cave„,would bring them in sudden 
attack upon us! My hand-fork. closed 
about my weapon’s butt. 

The stillness was ripped by a long 
wailing cry, packed with terror; a 
thin, hopeless, human wail that rose 
and fell, rose and fell, somewhere 
ahead! It snapped short. The follow- 
ing, intensified silence was vibrant 
with horror. 

I jumped forward. The ground 



THE CAVERN OF THE SHINING POOL 



73 



dropped away from beneath me, and I 
was falling, falling— 



CHAPTER III 
The Turtle Men 



T here was, sound now, sound 
aplenty. The crash of my own 
sheathed body, jerking from side to 
side. The crash of Jay dropping too, 
above me. Rattle of loosened stones, 
following us down. I dropped, 
dropped endlessly. 

The sensation of falling ceased, but 
not the noises. I seemed to be floating 
free in the eyeless dark. My flung-out 
hand touched the side wall, was thrust 
away with terrific force. I knew then 
that I was still falling, but not at an 
increasing rate, as I should have if 
gravity alone were acting. Some in- 
tangible. force was holding the speed 
of my descent steady, so that, with 
nothing by which to judge, I seemed 
to be at rest. 

Precisely as if I were in a space- 
ship, zipping along at a thousand 
miles a minute, with nil acceleration. 
But this was in the bowels of a world, 
not in the free leagues of space. 
Sooner or later we’d hit something 
solid. 

The blackness greyed slightly, I 
felt myself moving upward, slowly. 
But so sudden a change of direotion,' 
at the speed I must have attained, 
should have torn me to bits. It dawned 
on me that my fall was merely slowing 
gradually. Queer! What could be 
causing this gentle deceleration? 

In a sort of drab dusk I could now 
see the glass-smooth, curved walls 
blurring past. I twisted and s^w Jay’s 
queerly distorted form below — no, 
above me. It must be above. I had 
fallen first, and he had not passed me. 
Sensation was chaotic. As a space 
pilot I should have been familiar with 
apparent changes of , direction, decep- 
tively due to misinterpretation of 
changes in acceleration, in rate of 
motion, by the monitors in our nerv- 
ous system. But it was so long since 
I had flown. 

The light grew brighter. It was 



white light. White light! Brighter 
and brighter it was, dazzling after the 
dark. Abruptly the walls of the shaft 
were gone! 

We had dropped through the roof 
of a tremendous cavern, its boundaries 
miles away! Below, straight below us, 
five hundred feet or more, a circular 
pool of what seemed white-hot, shin- 
ing metal blazed. I glintpsed forms 
moving about its edges, a road border- 
ing it, low-lying buildings. Beyond 
them fields, green fields. We were 
falling straight for that white blaze! 

A hurtling form shot sideward, 
from above me, blue gas spittings 
“Gurd. Your gas-tube! Your gas-tube, 
Gurd!” 

Jay’s howl shocked me back to 
thought, to action. I had clean forgot- 
ten .that this was a self-propelled 
space suit. My hand-fork flashed to 
the control button. The death pool 
jerked away from under me. I thudded 
hard to the cavern floor, beside the 
prone figure of my brother. My head 
rang with the impact, my body felt a 
mass of bruises, but I was alive ! 

Jay’s helmet was split across the 
forehead! Was he dead from the fall, 
or poisoned by unbreathable gases ad- 
mitted through that ominous tear in 
his head cover? I rolled to him", peered 
in through his face-plate. 

His eyelids flickered, opened. Color 
flowed back into his cheeks, and he 
smiled, wryly. 

“I’m all right, Gurd. Just got a 
rotten crack on the head.” 

I was nauseous with relief. 

“I thought you were gone.” 

“Not yet. I was born to be gass[ed 
out.” He sniffed. “I smell flowers. 
What did you do, lay a wreath on me? 
A little previous, wasn’t it?” 

“Your helmet’s cracked open.” 

“Good Lord, but this air is salu- 
brious. Open up and get a whiff of it.” 

I GOT to my knees, was rigid with 
dismay. Across the level, grassy 
meadow from the shining pool a horde 
of creatures were rushing toward us, 
things out of some fantastic dream, 
gigantic in size, of vivid, kaleido- 
scopic coloring. 

As they came closer I saw that they 



74 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



were dome-ehaped, more like turtles 
than any other Earth creaiture. But 
there was no shell, no tail, and their 
six unjointed legs were squarely be- 
neath the ungainly bodies. From the 
topmost point of the hemispherical 
torsos, a full eight feet from the 
ground, sprang a series of long ten- 
tacles, thin and writhing snakily. In 
front, fragile-seeming, necks jutted, 
ending in corfiparatively tiny, globu- 
lar heads, each featureless save for 
one unwinking green eye, and' two 
drooping, flapped ears. 

Before I could move the turtle men 
closed around us in a jostling, night- 
mare circle, leaving an open space 
about twenty feet in diameter. They 
squashed into one another, seeming to 
merge in a solid wall of obscene pro- 
toplasm, so that we 'were the center 
of a serried circle of ball heads thrust 
out from a high barrier. From that in- 
credible ring came a high, squeaking 
chorus of whimpering sound, oddly 
infantile. " 

I remained k^neeling, gaping at that 
circled horror, could not have moved 
had I so willed. 

The whimpering squeals grew in 
volume, then, ceased altogether. The 
ring parted, the crowding hosts be- 
hind gave way till there was an open 
lane, stretching back to whence they 
had come. From fTie direction of the 
pool, down that long passage, moving 
with vast dignity, a little procession 
came slowly toward us. 

In front was a turtle man, similar to 
those we had already seen, save that 
his body was a steady blue and that 
in one of his tentacles there was a 
bundle of what seemed like long grass 
which he held aloft and waved slowly 
from side to side. Behind him, on 
some “sort of discoid platform whose 
bearers were screened from us by the 
leader’s bulk, lumped another of the 
creatures. 

ThiS' one glowed purple, and even 
from a distance I could see that his 
legs and tentacles were rudimentary, 
while the sphere of his head was 
triple the size of the others’. 

As they came'^ on a wave accom- 
panied them in the forest of uplifted 
tentacles. They came down in evident 



obeisance, then lifted again to resume 
their eternal weaving. 

I rose and tried to assume what dig- 
nity of posture I could muster. The 
blue turtle man came within the 
cleared circle of grass land and 
moved to one side, turning as he did 
so. And I saw who it was that bore 
the palanquin of his master. 

Their once natfy uniforms hanging 
in torn strips, their faces smeared 
with dried blood and twisted in agony, 
their eyes great pits of suffering, the 
two Earthmen were bent almost 
double beneath the weight on their 
shoulders. Hal Sanders’ face was 
seared by two livid welts from ear to 
(ffiin, and on Ralph Hollivant’s chest, 
where his tunic had been ripped away, 
another glowed angtily. I felt the hot 
blood of rage surge into my face. My 
fists balled within their gloved hand- 
forks. 

The blue-hued major domo flicked 
out a tentacle that touched the plat- 
form, and then the ground, in an 
obvious signal. The Earthnien knelt, 
their necks cording with the effort, 
and struggled to put the palanquin' 
down evenly. 

One side slipped from Sanders’ 
shoulder, thuniping against the 
ground. The prime minister lashed a 
tentacle across the poor fellow’s 
cheek! Hal’s shoulders jerked and I 
held my breath, thinking he would 
spring at his tormentor. But, piti- 
fully, his head drooped and all he did 
was to rub the new mark of punish- 
ment with a trembling, grimy hand. 

I remembered Hal Sanders as a tvvp- 
fisted, brawling chap, impatient of 
discipline. To see him meekly accept 
the lash told more eloquently than 
mahy words what he had gone 
through, what lay in store for us. 

T he enslaved men heaved pain- 
fully upright. They looked at us 
with lack-luster eyes, not the least 
ripple in their dull faces showing 
recognition of' us, or wonder at our 
appearance. 

“Hal! Ralph!’’ Jay cried. “What 
have these devils done to you?” 

Hollivant looked at his blue master, 
appeared to beg voicelessly for per- 



THE CAVERN OF THE SHINING POOL 



75 



mission to speak. 

One of the turtle man’s snakelike 
arms reached out to me, swept shud- 
dersomely over my metal suit, then to 
Ralph’s puffed lips. 

Hollivant’s voice was almost un- 
recognizable as human speech. “He 
wants you to get out of the space 
suits.’’ 

“Like hell we will,’’ Jay blurted. 
“Let him try to take them off.’’ 

“You had better. We tried to defy 
them, and look at us. They’re utter 
fiends.’’ , 

Jay’s gesture of negation was ev- 
idently understood by the weird 
creature. His tentacle touched Hol- 
livant’s lips again, then waved in an 
all-embracing movement. 

“Evidently they don’t want another 
scrap. We did some damage before 
they got us down. I’m to explain the 
uselessness of defying them.’’ 

“Never mind that,” I broke in. 
“Tell us about this place. With the 
benefit of what you have learned we 
may have a chance to get you away.” 
“Impossible. If you have any 
weapons the best thing you can do is 
kill yourselves and us.” They were 
licked, there was no question of that. 

“Chin up, Ralph. Arch your back. 
That way out is always available. 
Meantime we’ll try to make a fight of 
it. What happened to you?” 

“We got down safely enough, land- 
ing somewherfe on the slope of the 
mountain through the center of which 
the entrance to this h'ell shoots up. 
Hal took’a chance on opening his face- 
plate, and when we discovered that 
the air was breathable we decided to 
signal to Captain Silton. We climbed 
the peak, keeping on our space suits. 

“Just as we reached the underside 
of the clouds, what I thought was a 
snake whipped aroimd me and 
coiled tight. I fought for a long time, 
there in the red fog, against writhing, 
snakelike things I could not see. The 
huge, soft, jellylike bulks gave no 
resistance as 1 slashed, and slashed, 
and slashed in a delirium of struggle. 
One of my hand-forks struck against 
rock and broke off, the other was bent 
and useless. I grew weary, weary, and 
I could fight no longer. The living 



ropes clamped tight around me, bound 
my arms, my legs. 

“I was dragged into pitch darkness, 
and then I was drifting down, slowly 
down and down till I thought there 
was no end to descent.” 

“Slowly? Our acceleration was 
tremendous at first”’ 

The blue turtle man squealed pro- 
test at my interjection, and waved a 
threatening tentacl'e. Hollivant 
winced. 

“He’s getting impatient. I’ll have to 
cut it short.” 

“Get the salient facts over. I want 
to know especially how they get up 
and down that shaft. I’ve got a hunch 
that the solution to our problem lies 
there.” 

“Okay. Here’s the layout. The out- 
side of this planet is uninhabitable be- 
cause there are no life-giving rays in 
the light from its sun. But the pool in 
this cavern is a basin of highly radio- 
active liquid that gives off light with 
all the necessary vibrations at the 
violet end of the spectrum. As a re- 
sult, animal and vegetable life has 
prospered here, their evolution cul- 
minating in these highly civilized 
creatures. Not only does the liquid 
give off light, but it is also tremen- 
dously repellent. Since it is sunk so 
deeply it acts only upward, more than 
cancelling the planet’s n a t u r>a 1 
gravity.” 

??W^OW do they manage to control 
MM. that repulsion?” 

“They have a compound, a trans- 
parent, glasslike sort of stuff, that 
screens the pool effect. From the 
nearest building to the pond they 
swing out leaves of this material, or 
retraict them, so as to moderate the 
repulsion ; allowing it to act full force, 
or shutting it off entirely. Ordinary 
gravity acts through this glass, so the 
effect of covering the pool with it is 
to permit whatever is in the shaft to 
fall, instead of rise as it would if the 
pool were uncovered.” 

“I get it ! By regulating the lamina- 
tions they control the speed of ascent 
or descent. That is why we fell so 
fast at first, then had our speed gradu- 
ally checked.” Many things were clear 



76 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



to me now, and already a desperate 
plan was forming in back of my head. 

“They go up there to obtain a cer- 
tain ore needed in some of their 
scientific processes. One of their 
parties discovered and captured Hal 
and myself. Others must have ob- 
served your approach.” 

“We heard a scream of pain — ” 

“That was when I got this.” He 
pointed to the scar on his chest. “The 
hole is a great speaking tube, carries 
sound perfectly. I heard what 
sounded like a space suit striking 
against rock, and tried to call a warn- 
ing. But I was caught at it.” Memory 
of pain was a dull flame in the lack- 
luster eyes. 

“You say they are civilized. t. The 
way they have acted to you doesn’t 
sound like it.” 

“They’ve outgrown all emotion, ex- 
cept one, loyalty and veneration for 
their king. He is the be-all and end- 
all of their economy. At a word from 
him the whole nation would kill it- 
self.” 

I had heard enough. “Listen, every- 
body,” I said in a quiet tone, and set 
out my scheme rapidly and succinctly,, 
gesturing meanwhile so as to indicate 
to the watching turtle man that al- 
though we refused to remove our suits 
we should go with them peaceably. 

At a gesture of command, Hal and 
Ralph bent to take up their burden 
again, and Jay and 1 stepped forward 
to aid them. 



CHAPTER IV 
Relativity Reversed 

T he turtle king pn his platform 
was unexpectedly light, despite 
his great size, and the four -of us bore 
him easily, as we followed his adju- 
tant down the long passage that re- 
opened through the compact mass of 
his fellows. I chuckled grimly when 
I saw that the path led straight to the 
edge of the pool. 

“The palace,” Hollivant whispered, 
“is on the other side. We will pass 
the structure from which the screens 
are swung and then swing around the 



pond.” 

Eyer 5 rthing depended now on 
whether those screens were over the 
pool or not. We slowly neared it, and 
the brilliant light grew almost un- 
bearable. It blazed through the major 
domo’s body and made of it a huge 
sapphire jewel. It struck pearly irides- 
cence from the walled bodies lining 
our course. There was an obscene 
beauty in the play of color, but my 
attention was focussed on the great 
vault of the cavern roof, and, directly 
over the deep-sunk shining pool, the 
black hole that betokened the lower 
end of the shaft. 

The procession leader reached the 
edge of the lake of light, turned pon- 
derously half left to skirt it. His bulk 
no longer eclipsed my view. I saw the 
answer to the question that pounded 
at my brain. Folded up against the 
wall of a building at our right I saw 
the transparent screens, towering 
above the low structure’s roof. The 
pool was unobscured, was free to pour 
the full strength of its repulsion up 
through the long vertical tunnel 
where lay our only, way to release. 

The blue turtle man wa^ .some ten 
feet ahead of us* the following hosts a 
respectful twenty behind. It was now 
or never. 

“Ready,” I called, quietly, and 
shifted^ one arm so that it curled up, 
over the palanquin edge, and gripped 
the upper surface. The burden jolted, 
the least bit, and I knew the others 
had done the same. 

“Go!” my voice snapped, and I 
jumped straight for the center of the 
pool, still clinging to the turtle king’s 
support. It came with me, as Jay and 
Ralph and Hal responded to my com- 
mand. Straight out over that blazing 
pond we leaped and suddenly we were 
falling ! 

Falling I But the -pool was above us, 
and the cavern roof beneath! The re- 
pulsion of that pond, taking the place 
of gravity, had reversed directions 
for us, and while to the astounded 
turtle' men we were shooting upward 
to our own senses we were dropping 
as rapidly. 

Straight for the black aperture we 
went, and a squeal of rage came from 



THE CAVERN OF THE SHINING POOL 



the palanquin. I looked up at a vast 
thicket of agitated tentacles and saw 
a blue mound whirl and scuttle toward 
the building against which the 
screens were folded. The prime min- 
ister, rushing to cut off the pool’s 
power and bring us back to venge- 
ance. 

I jerked out my trinite gun, aimed 
carefully upward, past my feet, at the 
huge plates that hung down from the 
ground. I winged the trinite pellet 
with a prayer. 

It struck, by the' Pleiades ! It struck 
squarely on the slowly unhinging 
screens, and they shattered into a 
million fragments! 

Even above the shattering crash of 
that destruction I heard a vast high- 
pitched wail from the tossing mul- 
titudes above, and saw them rush 
headlong into the pool, saw them 
hurtle downward after us. Then we 
were in the obscurity of the shaft; 
falling, falling, falling tov/ard the 
surface of the red planet. 

?ef=T^HEY’LL blow up the shaft 
H with their bombs,” Sanders 
cried out. “That’ll cut off the pool 
power, and we’ll be trapped here in 
mid-earth.” 

“They won’t do that as long as we 
have their king with us. I thought 
they might use some such means of 
stopping us. That’s why I brought him 
along.” 

“Gurd!” Jay’s voice. “We’re ac- 
celerating rapidly. We’ll crash at the 
top. Now that you’ve destroyed the 
screens there’s nothing to stop us ex- 
cept the roof of the entrance cave.” 

“We’ll slow up with our gas-tubes.” 

“Yeah? And give the turtle men 
a chance to catch up with us?” 

“Pluto! I didn’t think of that! Well, 
it’ll be a clean death, anyway.” I was 
licked. 

But not Jay. “Try shooting at it,” 
he yelled. “Maybe we can blow off the 
top of the peak. 

“Good boy! Shoot!” We emptied 
our guns past the discoid resting place 
of the turtle king. Then we waited 
with bated breath, as we continued 
the headlong rise that, to us, seemed 
a fall. We knew the pellets we had 



loosed were speeding ahead of us, that 
they would surely strike the over- 
hanging rock that threatened us. We 
knew the tremendous atomic power 
compact in each of the eighth-inch 
globules. Would it be sufficient to 
blast away the black peak? 

Thunder rolled back upon us, deaf- 
ening. We were thrown violently 
from side to side of the shaft as the 
disturbed air soughed past us, and I 
heard a squeal of pain from the turtle 
king. I tried to see past the platform 
edge, for some gleam of light that 
would tell me our attempt was suc- 
cessful. But the darkness was com- 
plete. 

“No go, fellows. We’re in for it.” 
“Good-by, Gurd. It was a grand fight 
while it lasted.” 

I reached out, groping, and my hand- 
fork met Jay’s, gripped it hardv 

Suddenly I was flung against the 
underside of the palanquin! I heard a 
squashing thud, a high pitched 
scream, gurgling horribly into silence. 
I was one of a writhing mass of human 
arms, legs, bodies, and was joining 
my voice to a chorus of shouted, 
husky curses and objurgations. Some- 
thing was around my neck, holding 
my head as in a vise. A heel beat a 
tattoo on the metal of my space suit. 

“Hey, let up! Get your toe out of 
my eye!” That was Jay. I shook my 
head to clear it of the dizzy whirl 
that scrambled my brains, realized 
that we were no longer falling, that 
we were piled atop the bottom of the 
platform that had preceded us in all 
that long descent, that we were mi- 
raculously alive! 

“What — what’s happened?” some- 
one gasped. 

“That’s easy!” I had figured it out. 
“The back-flash of the explosion of 
our trinite pellets against the roof 
slowed us up a darn sight more than 
we realized. And the eight-foot mass 
of jelly the other side of this sedan- 
chair did the rest. That turtle king 
made a swell bumper.” 

“Whew! Let’s get out of here. That 
mob will be on us in a second.” 

“Gad! I’d forgotten them. How is it 
they haven’t caught us already?” 
“The explosion slowed them up 



.78 



THRILLING WONDER ST0R1ES 



also. But they’ll be here, too quick 
for comfort.” 

f PUSHED to the side of the plat- 
form, reached arouhd, and got a 
grip on the under surface. I pushed 
out under the rocky floor of the tun- 
nel. Instantly directions, were re- 
versed. I hung now, from the disc that 
had just been under me. What was 
down was now uf), up, now down. I 
knew then that miles of solid ground 
was between me and the repulsion of 
the pool, that I was definitely out of 
the shaft. I let go, dropped, sprawled 
on solid, grateful rock. 

Jay landed beside me. 

“Next time I come here,” he grunted, 
“I’m going to paste a label on me, 
‘This side up, with care.’ Am I on my 
head or my tail now?” 

“Hustle,” I yelled, and took it on 
the run. The others were close behind. 

Our stratocar still perched, bird- 
like bn the outer ledge. We piled in- 
side. The motor took hold sweetly, 
and the stratocar zipped out of reach. 



The Pbobos’ power was triple that 
of the Luna. She lifted easily through 
the crimson clouds. 

"Where now?” Hal Sanders queried. 
“How are we going to get back?” 
“The same /way Jay did, through 
the ether eddy.” 

“I suppose you’ve got a chart of the 
route,” Jay scoffed. “Just issued by 
the Interuniverse Flying Board.” 

“I have.” 

“Quit your spoofing.” 

"rm not. The blind luck that at- 
tends children and drunks brought 
the eddy in your path, when you were 
here before. I, being somewhat more 
intelligent, know enough to look for 
it.” 

“I suppose it’s all set for you?” 
“Exactly,” I responded drily. 
“There it is, straight ahead. Look.” 
And so it was, shimmering discreet- 
ly, a vague intangible veil across the 
black curtain of this other-space. But 
now it breathed promise instead of 
fear. The Phobos plunged straight 
for its heart. 



© 

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WORLD’S FOREMOST AUTHORITY ON ROCKETS 



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QRTY-NINTH day. 

We’re on Mars! Landed an 
hour ago. Mars Expedition 
Number One transmitting to Earth 
via ^Mars etherline. Radio operator 
Gillway speaking, as usual. 

Quite a jolt, the landihg. Hull 
dented but intact. Greavefe was 
knocked unconscious against a wall, 
but had no bones broken. No equip- 
ment damaged. 



Here are the details. Cruishank, 
ballistic expert, plotted the course ac- 
curately and we swept past the sur- 
face at three miles a second. Then the 
ship swung, in the grip of Martian 
gravity, and took up a course as a 
satellite in the upper fringes of the 
atmosphere. Cruishank cut the speed, 
causing the ship to drop gradually, 
and Captain Atwell pointed out a bar- 
ren desert as the safest landing field. 










80 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



The ship lowered nicely and plbwed 
into the sand rather violently, but not 
worse than expected. 

We all have had enough of the mo- 
notony of space with — as Markers put 
it — its appalling emptiness, frightful 
blackness and dismal dimensions of 
eternal depth. We’re glad it’s behind 
us — ^that six-week trip through noth- 
ingness. 

It is sunset now and in the night 
Greaves, our chemist, will test the air. 
Tomorrow morning, if all is well, we 
will step out on Mars. 

Mars Expedition signing off until 
tomorrow. Fifteen minutes of daily 
operation, with the tremendous power 
needed to bridge these millions of 
miles to Earth' is all our radio bat- 
teries can stand. 

Regards to the world we have left. 
IFTIETH day. 

Captain Atwell, by unanimous 
vote, was elected to have the honor 
of first treading Martian soil. 
Greaves announced the air chemically 
fit for our lungs but too rarefied for 
comfort, so we are using the air-hel- 
mets on this planet. Captain Atwell 
left the air-lock alone and stuck the 
small flagpole into the coarse, ruddy 
sand, bearing the flag of our native 
world. Then the rest of us followed 
him. 

Gravity, of course, is ridiculously 
sHght. Swinerton, tall and jerky in 
manner, overdid his first step outside 
the ship and executed an incomplete 
and amusing somersault. The air is 
cold, being twenty-four degrees be- 
low zero Centigrade at high noon. 
We sally out only in heavy clothing. 

Yes, it’s queer^ enough, this Mars. 
No sign of snow or clouds, nor any 
of water unless that depression a mile 
or so away holds some. The cold 
drove us in quickly. Tomorrow we 
will discuss a course of action. 

« 4 : * 

Fifty-first day. 

Somewhat warmer today, but still 
below freezing. We are in the south- 
ern hemisphere very near the equator 
of Mars. 

Several of the men are eager to get 
at their pursuits. Swinerton and Bor- 



deaux wish to explore the forest. 
Parletti, geologist extraordinary, has 
his pick and shovel out. Alado wants 
to set up the selenium generators. 

Captain Atwell, Cruishank and 
Markers discussed the matter care- 
fully and decided first to make our 
habitat more convenient. Beginning 
tomorrow we. will dig out the nose of 
the ship and move it as close to the 
pool of water as possible. We plan to 
establish a headquarters there, as wa- 
ter is OUT main necessity. 

No fauna discovered yet. We saw 
both moons of this planet last night. 
There is no way to describe the sen- 
sation of seeing two of them, one, 
Phobos, streaking across the sky like 
a rocket in the opposite direction of 
the stars and sun. 

All of us are armed with pistols and 
knives, and Captain Atwell carries a 
rifle. He will take no chances in this 
alien enviroiiment. 

^ :1c 4: 

Fifty-second day. 

We began working on our new plan 
today. First we dug out the nose of 
the ship. Quite a job even though we 
struck only loose sand as far down as 
we went. We were all able to work 
continuously for twelve hours because 
of the light gravity. Then we had to 
devise a way to move the ship, which 
weighs plenty even here on Mars. 

Alado and Markers — they make a 
splendid team — worked out a scheme 
and started to set up the apparatus be- 
fore night came. More on that to- 
morrow. 

Saw our first definite signs of ani- 
mal life today. Swinerton is excited. 
High above our ship at noon today we 
saw a bird, or birdlike creature, with 
an enormous wing spread. It circled 
around above us in utter silence. 
Swinerton spent an hour observing it 
with binoculars, and reports it as 
feathered. It has a hooked beak, like 
an eagle’s, and strangely, no Itgs. Ap- 
parently it spends its life in the air. 
We thought that the thin air should 
discourage flying, but Swinerton put 
forth the weak gravity as an explana- 
tion. 

It is night now and the interior of 
the ship is warm and cozy. Out sun- 




VIA ETHERLINE 



81 



power unit works at about half capac- 
ity with the amount of sunlight we 
get during the day, but It is more than 
enough to recharge the batteries. 

Jupiter is low on the horizon and 
startlingly bright. In fact, we can 
make out his disc. And Greaves, who 
has sharp eyes, claims he has caught 
glimpses of three of the moons with- 
out binoculars. With the glasses we 
can easily distinguish seven moons. 

Earth, naturally, is not in the Mar- 
tian sky at present, so the last we saw 
of it was the day before we landed. 
In about a month, however, Earth will 
be an early evening star. 

Our morale is high. The Martian 
environment is not any more rigorous 
than the arctics of Earth,' with the one 
exception of breathable air, but our 
helmets take care of that. 

IFTY-THIRD day. 

We moved the ship halfway to 
the pool today. We did it by using 
the long beryllium-alloy bars on which 
♦’-T sun-power mirror rests. First we 
pounded them into the ground, mak- 
ing a firm anchorage. Then Alado set 
up two seleno-cells — in this constant 
sunlight they generate surprising 
power — and supplied their current to 
the motor that formerly ran our ship’s 
gyroscope. Then, using pulleys and 
steel cables attached to the nose 
rockets, the motor dragged the ship 
forward over the rolling sand. 

Lord knows it would never work on 
ordinary ground, but with this drifty’ 
sand, it was easy. We were able to 
move the ship twenty-five yards at a 
time this way before uprooting the 
poles and placing them further toward 
the pool. By tomorrow we’ll reach the 
water. 

Temperature today is considerably 
warmer — just about freezing. All day 
there were a number of those wide- 
winged birds hovering above us. I 
hate to say it, but they remind me of 
vultures. Bordeaux just asked ^for 
some music. Can you give us some? 

^ ^ j{c 

Fifty-fourth day. 

Reached the pool all right. Our sun- 
power unit is broken up, so we are 



charging our batteries with the se- 
leno-cells temporarily. 

We had a surprise today. A sort of 
“heat wave’’ seems to have swept down 
upon us. The temperature was ten 
above zero. Captain Atwell, fearing 
that the heat will keep up and melt the 
lumps of ice in the pool — which, on 
Mars as well as Earth, must be pure 
water since saline solutions rarely 
freeze — ordered all of us to fill the 
water reservoirs. This we did and we 
have a large supply now. 

This evening. Captain Atwell called 
a general council. For our continued 
existence, we need two important 
things which it was impossible to take 
along from Earth : water, which, how- 
ever, is a small worry at present; and 
oxygen, which is running low rapidly 
because of the constant use of the hel- 
mets. Food, of course, we are stocked 
with for two years. That will easily 
last until next opposition, as was 
planned. We have plenty of fuel for 
the return trip. 

The water question will not be seri- 
ously considered for a while, but the 
oxygen can’t be neglected. Alado and 
Greaves are going to work on that 
problem. Either chemically or elec- 
trically, we must have that gas of life. 

Markers set up the four-inch tele- 
scope this evening and we all took 
looks at J upiter and his moons. Saturn 
is an early morning star but only 
Markers is staying up to see it. The 
rest of us will wait until it becomes 
an evening star. 

Bordeaux innocently asked to see 
the larger moon, Phobos, through the 
telescope. Markers looked at him 
witheringly, then invited him to train 
the tube on it. The way the ship is 
turned at present, Phobos crosses the 
left front port only once in seven 
hours and plunges by in half a minute 
across the width of the window. So 
Bordeaux pointed the tube and 
waited. 

Suddenly he tensed and began to 
wheel the pinion madly, back and 
forth. When Phobos was out of sight, 
he turned to the rest of us who had 
been watching and laughing, and said ; 

“That’s no moon. It’s a big firefly 
out for a speed record!’’ Beimos, the 




82 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



other moon, is not in the sky these 
nights. ■' 

:(> :|c iji lie 

Fifty-fifth day. 

Captain Atwell speaking. I wish to 
inform the Expedition’s home staff of 
scientists; who are patiently awaiting 
scientific reports from my men, that I 
consider it our duty to make our posi- 
tion as impreghable as possible before 
engaging in any concentrative re- 
search work. As soon as we have es- 
tablished a permanent camp and 
worked out-a ro.utine of living, I will 
let the men get at their researches. 
For the present, however, and perhaps 
for another week, they will be under 
my orders. TJiat is all. 

Gillway speaking. Alado, Greaves 
and Markers made crude plans for an 
oxygen plant here at the pool. Alado 
promised unlimited electrical power 
from the seleho-cells. Greaves is 
working on the electrolysis setup. 
Markers is devising a collecting and 
pressure-pumpi system to store the 
oxygen in the tanks that have been 
emptied through use. 

Captain Atwell and Swinerton went 
to the bush forest, a mile away, to get 
an idea of its outlay. They found it 
very similar to the bush iwilds of our 
pool and caught glimpses , of various 
forms of animal and bird life. Swin- 
erton is more excited than ever. Mars 
seenis to harbor more of life than 
Earth generally suspected. 

B pARLETTI made a momentous 
Spiscovery today. He was digging 
in the reddish land near the pool, try- 
ing to get an idea of its composition, 
and noticed that the soil that clung to 
his shovel dried to a brick in the sun- 
light. In other words, it is a hard- 
drying brick clay. The captain was 
very thoughtful about the matter. I 
think he’s trying to figute out a pos- 
sible use Jor the material. 

Greaves and Markers started the 
building of the electrolysis plant at 
the edge of the pool. 

Proosett speaking. Markers and I 
completed a survey for our geographi- 
cal position on Mars. Using a merid- 
ian in the same plane as Earth’s me- 
ridian at 6:00 sharp today, Greenwich 



solar time, we are longitude 16* 17' 
54", east to west. Latitude from the 
equator 5° 45' 15" to the south. The 
season here is the wane of summer 
and logically, then, we are in the 
warmest spot on Mars. What the tem- 
peratures are further from the equa- 
tor, I shiver to guess. 

* * * 

Fifty-sixth day. , 

Captain Atwell thought of a use for 
the clay. Taking advantage of the 
warm spell we are having — ten to fif- 
teen degrees above zero — he has de- 
cided to have a clay house built. 'The 
ship, all of us knew without saying, 
offers very cramped quarters. The 
captain plans a large, roomy house. 

Hods were made and all of us dug 
and transported clay during the day 
except Greaves and Markers, who are 
setting up the oxygen plant. Using 
the automatic pump that formerly 
operated the ship’s air system, and 
with power furnished by the seleno- 
cell that Alado will install, they will 
compress oxygen as fast as it is 
formed. They assembled a conglom- 
erate of tubs, glass tubing, platinum 
electrodes and batteries at the edge of 
the pool. Water in the form of ice 
will be dumped into the vats, melted 
in the sun, and then run into the elec- 
trolyzing chamber. 

Most of these things are yet in the 
formative stage. There are difficult 
details that will have to be solved. 
When Greaves and Markers left their 
work at nightfall, they were surprised 
to see the foundation of the new clay 
house already installed. Captain At- 
well is an efficient taskmaster, and did 
as much of the work as any of us. 

Markers speaking. Made long ob- 
servations of Jupiter last night and 
have discovered an eleventh moon. 
When the new house is finished, I plan 
to set up the four-inch ’scope on the 
roof and take photographs of Jupiter, 
Saturn and the asteroids. I think from 
this vantage point. Mars being so 
much nearer these planets than Earth, 
there will be other discoveries. I’m 
not positive, but I think I’ve spotted 
two new asteroids also. Further ob- 
servations will bring them out if 
they’re there. 



VIA ETHERLINE 



83 



IFTY-SEVENTH day. 

Gillway speaking. Swinerton 
came down today with a severe case 
of bronchitis. Parletti, a first-class 
doctor as well as a great geologist, 
tended him and reports no danger. 

Captain Atwell is going right ahead 
with the building of the house and 
even Greaves and Markers were con- 
scripted to Help. The captain says the 
oxygen plant can wait. He wants to 
get the clay house up as rapidly as 
possible, because, as we all realize, if 
below zero cold sets in again, we will 
be unable to use the frozen clay. 

Atwell left us to ourselves in the 
afternoon and went hunting. He came 
back with several of the insect-legged 
rabbit creatures, which we had tried 
before and found edible. We were 
glad to vary our bill of fare with fresh 
food. Incidentally, it is not meat. In 
fact, we’re inclined to agree with 
Swinerton who maintains the creature 
is more insect than anything, and that 
its fleshy tissue is really insect steak. 
It tastes like lobster, though Bor- 
deaux insists it tastes like turtle eggs. 
Anyway, it’s appetizing and most wel- 
come. 

We’ve had trouble with our ears, all 
of us. The diaphragms of our air- 
helmets, which enable us to project 
our voices out into the air, vibrate 
very strongly and our ears are con- 
stantly hammered by confined noises. 
As a result, we go to bed with ringing 
heads. Markers and 1 are going to 
stay up tonight and remedy the trou- 
ble. Sound carries well in this atmos- 
phere and we ought to be able to reg- 
ulate the diaphragm to less volume. 

Bordeaux is quite impatient these 
days. When our ship was landing, he 
saw, or imagined he saw, a group of 
man-made habitations beside the line 
that marked a canal. Naturally, he 
wishes to scout around for some ar- 
cheological studies. The captain is 
adamant, however. We must finish the 
house and get our oxygen apparatus 
working. 

Those vultures are still flying 
around in the sun each day, a -full 
score of them. Atwell doesn’t like 
their significance. 

“Gillway,” he said to me once, “scav- 



engers such as they are never hang 
around a place that is unlikely to be a 
hunting ground for some ferocious 
species of killer. I just wonder what 
those other creatures are.” 

Well, so far we don’t know. Only 
sometimes I get premonitions and 
those wheeling vultures above don’t 
help to allay them. 

:iic ^ i|c 

Fifty-eighth day. 

Swinerton is on his feet again, but 
the captain ordered him to stay in the 
ship. He watched the vultures 
through binoculars for hours and told 
us when we came in that the creatures 
were more insect than bird. Atwell 
verified his statement that they had 
membranaceous wings, although their 
bodies were feathered. Swinerton 
stated the creature’s beak was really 
a pair of mandibles like those of a 
warrior ant. All of which makes Mar- 
tian animal life, as much as we can say 
at present, a curious admixture of 
mammalian and insectal attributes, 
with the insect traits predominating. 

The walls of the house are now 
chest high. Cruishank, who is some- 
thing of an architect on the side, 
planned a system of supports for the 
roof. They will be clay columns set 
up at strategic places to prevent col- 
lapse. 

The air in the ship is rather hard to 
manage now that we’ve taken out the 
automatic pump. Every hour or so one 
of us has to open the oxygen tank and 
bring the pressure to normal. The 
carbon dioxide converters, not being 
100% efficient, constantly lower the 
pressure. No real hardship, though. 

IFTY-NINTH day. 

Capteiin Atwell called halt at 
noon today and set the rest of the day 
aside as a period of rest. Most of us 
are rather frost-bitten and worn, so we 
enjoyed the hours of pleasant conver- 
sation and leisure. Thanks for that 
special program dedicated to us — 
made us feel — well, very good. 

We have set up two seleno-cells just 
outside the lock for charging the bat- 
teries, as one was incapable of doing 
the work. Alado plans to set the sun- 
power mirror on the roof of the house 





84 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



when it is completed, thus assuring us 
of plenty of current for a heating 
plant. But for the present, the much 
smaller and less troublesome seleno- 
cells will suffice, especially in this 
constant Martian sunshine. We have 
seen no cloud since landing. No doubt 
we would have to go to the poles to 
find them. 

This pool we are using as a water 
supply is evidently the remnant of a 
once much deeper and larger lake. 
The ages have evaporated it lower and 
lowep, until at present it is highly 
saline, barely able to support more life 
than a few acres of desert shrubbery. 

We celebrated Armistice Day today 
by facing to the Martian east. The 
ties of Earth still bind us, though we 
are more than forty million miles 
away. 

Your Earth message came in greatly 
distorted an hour. ago. If it is any- 
thing important, you will have to re- 
peat. ' 

Now for the last thing of today’s 
log. At sundown, Dordeaux saw three 
figures standing motionless at the back 
end of the ship, a few hundred feet 
away. He dashed in and told Atwell 
about it, saying that the way they 
stood and watched indicated some de- 
gree of intelligence. 

We went out and barely caught a 
glimpse of the three figures racing 
away at high speed. The region to the 
back of the ship terminates in low hills 
many miles away. What is beyond 
those hills, we don’t know. And from 
the frown on the captain’s face, I’d say 
he is worried. We are on a strange, 
new world. We don’t know what un- 
kno\^n creatures may be lurking all 
about us, nor how dangerous they may 
-be. 

IXTIETH day. 

, Work pushed rapidly on the 
house. It will be finished tomorrow 
and we will immediately install the 
oxygen plant. Once these things are 
done, we will begin to explore the 
mysteries of this Red' Planet. 

Bordeaux is eager to begin a jaunt 
away from this desert land, to search 
for lost civilizations. Swinerton is 
dying to begin a careful survey of 



fauna and flora. Markers wants to set 
up the big telescope outside so he 
won’t be limited by the small view 
from the ship’s ports. The same with 
the rest of us. 'Ten men eager to cata- 
log Martian phenomena. Captain At- 
well himself has a hankering to hike 
to the nearest canal and see what it 
looks like. 

This evening again, in the light of 
Phobos, we spied a group of the mys- 
terious .creatures of the southland, a 
half mile away. They are squat figures 
and do act semi-intelligently in the 
way they stand motionless, peering at 
us until our attention scares them 
away. Their scuttling way of running 
reminds me of something I’ve seen be- 
fore, and when Swinerton, dashing in 
and out of the ship to get binoculars, 
announced that they looked like huge 
ants, I knew he was right. "But insects 
half as high as a man ! Somehow, they 
look ominous. 

* 

Sixty-first day. 

We’ve had serious trouble, and the 
future is uncertain for us. This after- 
noon, while alone in the ship, I heard 
shouts from outside. I looked out the 
port. All I noticed in a quick glance 
was Proosett struggling with several 
horrible creatures whose powerful 
mandibles snapped at him viciously. 
I grabbed up a rifle and dashed out to 
find the rest of our men shooting into 
a mass of the attacking creatures. Our 
bullets won the battle and the attack- 
ers fled. 

We' picked up Proosett, bleeding 
and unconscious, horribly gashed 
about the legs. He died two hours 
later. 

Shocked and saddened by this, the 
rest' of us discussed the matter. Be- 
yond a doubt the attackers had been 
fellows of the insect creatures that 
had been watching us for several 
nights. We had seen them closely. 
They were ants three feet tall, giant 
insects with the ferocity of tigers. 
And yet more dangerous than any 
carnivore because of their prodigious 
strength and powerful mandibles. We 
wondered, with fear, if they existed 
in as great numbers as the ants of 
Earth do. 




VIA ETHERLINE 



85 



We continued with our work, two 
of us on constant guard searching the 
horizon for possible attack. 

We finished the clay house and set 
up the oxygen plant. We have several 
windows and one doorway, a double 
air-lock. We have moved our bedding 
and eating supplies from the ship and 
taken up quarters in the rpomy house. 
The heating plant of the ^hip was re- 
moved en masse and , installed, oper- 
ated by two seleno-celis on the roof. 
We worked far into the night. 

We buried Proosett just an hour ago 
in the moonlight. 

Sixty-third day. 

Gillway speaking. I’ve skipped a 
day because last night a slight defect 
of the ether damping unit prevented 
broadcast. There is much to tell. Yes- 
terday Swinerton came running up 
from his position at the south of our 
camp. The insects were coming! It 
was early morning and we had been 
engaged in refilling our oxygen tanks. 
Captmn Atwell ordered us all into the 
house. Then he took a look at the on- 
coming enemy. When he joined us in 
the house, his face was grave. They 
were coming in orderly formation, in 
rank and file, whole regiments of 
them. 

We watched them through the win- 
dows, as they came up. Breaking for- 
mation, they scattered about, clashing 
mandibles, looking 'for us. Finally, as 
if ordered by some higher authority, 
they advanced upon the house and at- 
tempted to batter it down. Group by 
group, they took short runs and tossed 
their hard-shelled bodies against the 



walls. Finding this useless, the crea- 
tures, seeming to know perfectly well 
that we were inside, set to work scrap- 
ing at the walls with their hard-edged 
jaws. 

We began to get worried. In time 
they would gnaw through the wall at 
some point, and if we weren’t asphyx- 
iated first from lack pf sufficient air, 
would cut us to pieces. It was a grave 
dilemma. 

We had a spare seleno-cell in the 
ship. Alado explained how we could 
drive them away — if we could get that 
generator. From the house to the ship 
was a distance of thirty yards, swarm- 
ing with ant creatures. It sefemed like 
suicide, but Cruishank, with a courage 
as large as his burly body, volunteered 
to try it. Captain Atwell wanted to go 
himself, but we overruled him. 

Atwell, Bordeaux and Greaves, be- 
ing the three best shots, covered 
Cruishank with rifle fire from the out- 
side lock as he made his mad dash to 
the ship. The ant creatures showed 
their utter ferocity, leaping at him 
and at the three markgmen, unmindful 
of the spitting rifle fire. Cruishank 
kept his two pistols going and plowed 
through the insects like a battering 
ram. The three riflemen held off the 
insects successfully until Cruish^k 
appeared from the ship, lugging the 
heavy selenium generator. He could 
no longer protect himself, but pushed 
his way to the spot midway between 
ship and house. 

He .dropped the generator to the 
sand, set the rheostat 9s ripping man- 
dibles tore him to ribbons. Then he 
[Turn Page] 




86 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



jerked up, waving an arm to us, 
shouted something, and collapsed. 
Captain Atwell attempted to rush to 
his rescue but the other two held him 
back. It would have been sheer sui- 
cide. 

We turned away from the sight of 
Cruishank’s body being torn to bits by 
the vicious enemy. We call it the same 
on Mars as on Earth — heroism ! 

Will continue tomorrow — batteries 
low. 

IXTY-FOURTH day. 

The seleno-cell quickly became 
hot from the sunlight and began gen- 
erating stored current. As Alado pre- 
dicted, the immense current, having 
no outlet from the power terminal, be- 
gan to send its high voltage sparks 
into the ground. Immediately the in- 
sects, taking this as a challenge per- 
haps, charged the generator. Then we 
saw the strangest sight we will ever 
see. As insect after insect came close 
to the cell, they took the full charge 
of the current and died instanta- 
neously from electrocution. 

It was fortunate for us that the in- 
sects were so utterly ferocious, for in- 
stead of avoiding the generator and 
letting its power dissipate into the 
ground, they insisted on attacking it 
in utter abandon until the ground be- 
came piled high with their dead. Then, 
being such good, conductors of the 
current, these bodies absorbed the cur- 
rent and shot it out to their still liv- 
ing fellows. 

It became an amphitheatre of blue 
bolts of electricity, maddened ant 
creatures, and twitching, burning 
bodies. Finally they saw the futility 
of further attack and fled, as many as 
were yet alive. We dared not go out 
until the sun set, for the seleno-cell 
was still operating and generating 
enough current to kill us all. 

That night we heard the tearing of 
flesh and sinew and the sounds of 
scuffling. The vultures cleaned the 
place out for us, leaving not a shred 
to remind us of the army of dead ants 
there had been. 

Today the ants came, again, in still 
greater hordes. Once more we watched 
the forces of nature fight our battle 



for us, heaping the creatures high in 
death. We are wondering how many 
more days they will come back. If 
they come at night, we will be forced 
to take refuge in the ship, without any 
heating equipment. 

And again tonight the vultures are 
cleaning the place up for us. We can 
hear them at work now, with their 
cruel beaks. We are all a bit nervous. 
Swinerton has the strange theory that 
it is the vultures who want us ; that if 
the ants routed us out, they would 
leave us for the great birds, who rule 
them. 

IXTY-FIFTH day. 

Gillway speaking. Good-by, 
world! We are marooned here ori 
Mars! Today our ship blew up. It is 
a ruined tangle. The ants came again 
in such legions that their dead filled 
the pool and heaped up against our 
ship. Electricity from our own seleno- 
cell must have worked through to the 
metal hull and touched off our fuel 
reserves. Our only salvation from the 
insect menace was also our undoing — 
cosmic irony! The explosion, besides 
very neatly wiping the j^-lace clean of 
marching insects, stove in one side of 
our clay house. We managed to repair 
the breach, working like demons in 
our air-helmets. 

In accordance with our previous ar- 
rangement, this will be our last code 
contact. We have not picked up your 
Earth messages for a week, and doubt 
that our own are going through. I 
will continue, however, to send the 
click / signal every day as per our 
schedule, at noon and midnight, 
Greenwich time. 

We expect the insects tomorrow. 
And every day thereafter until either 
our seleno-cell gives out or the attack- 
ers give up. After .that, supposing 
fate in our favor, we will do the ex- 
ploring denied us so far. 

But tomorrow will come the insects, 
and the next day . 

All else is the same as ever. So 
good-by, world! If luck is with us, 
we will resume radio contact two years 
from now, at the next opposition. 

Mars Expedition Number One sign- 
ing off. 









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89 




WHEN 

the 

EARTH 

LIVED 

A Super-Universe Unleashes 
Forces that Create New, 
Sentient Life! 

iy. 

HENRY KUTTNER 

Author of "Four Frightful Men" "Terror in 
the Night,” etc. 

W HEN Jim Marden discov- 
ered that the Universe had 
apparently gone insane, he 
was already on his way to the moun- 
tain home of Dr. Leon Kent, his uncle 
and sole living relative. An urgent, 
cryptic telegram from Kent had 
caused Marden hurdedly to pack a 
bag, throw it in the back of his road- 
ster, and start the long drive to Coon 
Mountain, where his uncle had his 
heme and laboratory. Snatching a 
hasty meal at a roadside stand, he 
glanced over a newspaper and saw the 
first warning of the disaster that was 
to become cosmic in its scope. 

If Marden hadn’t been somewhat of 
a scientist, in his amateur way, he 
would scarcely have realized the tre- 
mendous potentialities behind the 
news item on Page 6. It was brief 
enough, stating only that according to 
a dispatch received from the Mount 
^Wilson observatory, N.'G.C. 385, a 
nebula in the Pegasus' cluster, had 
stopped its race away from the earth 




The sphere leaped up to the horiion 



90 





WHEN THE EARTH I^VED 



91 



at a velocity of 2,400 miles per second; 
and was darting with even greater 
speed at right angles to its former 
course. 

The layman might have passed over 
the item unperturbed, but Marden 
knew that when a thing like that can 
happen, science loses its sanity and 
becomes an avocation for madmen. 

A girl sitting near him at the 
counter called to the waiter. She 
held up a spoon— or what must have 
been one once. Now it was only an 
oddly malformed bit of metal. 

“What do you call this?” she asked. 
The waiter, apologizing, gave her 
another spoon. In a moment Marden 
had forgotten the incident. Obviously 
it was ridiculous to connect a sud- 
denly insane nebula vvith the curious 
malformation of an ordinary spoon. 
Yet the two incidents were related, 
Marden was later to realize — and so, 
likewise, was the remarkable incident 
of the coffee urn, 

Marden wasn’t looking at the big, 
silvery urn at the time, and his first 
realization of anything wrong was a 
sudden hiss and a splash from beyond 
the counter, and an astonished cry 
from the Waiter, He glanced up, and 
saw a deluge of brown liquid pouring 
from the bottom of the um. In a 
moment the floor within the U-shaped 
counter was flooded. The waiter bent 
to turn off the gas, and suddenly froze, 
his bulging eyes staring up at the bot- 
tom of the urn. 

"Well, I’ll be — ” he exclaimed. “I 
never seen a thing like this before.” 
“What?” asked the girl who had 
wanted another spoon. Marden no- 
ticed that she was rather lovely, with 
greenish* glowing eyes, apd a some- 
what pert nose. A young man sitting 
beside her, blond, handsome, of the 
matinee idol type, added: “The 

place’ll be fallihg apart next, Lorna,” 
The waiter turned a puzzled face to 
Marden. " 

“Funny,” he said. “Looks like the 
metal had simply curled back out of 
the way of the flame. There’s a ring 
of it — not melted, but curled back — 
all around the hole in the bottom.” 
“Maybe it didn’t like the fire,” the 
blond youth said, vdth unintentional 



accuracy. The waiter shot him an un- 
pleasant glance. 

The girl got off the stool, and her 
companion threw a coin on the 
counter. 

“When does the bus leave?” he 
asked. 

A grin appeared on the waiter’s face. 

“It’s left,” he said with relish. 
“Won’t be none till tomorrow now.” 

“But we’ve got to get to Carr City,” 
the boy exclaimed. “There’s no place 
to stay here, even if^ — ” 

Marden said the obvious thing. 

“I’m going almost to Carr City, I’d 
be very glad to give you a lift.” 

“Thanks,” the boy accepted eagerly. 
The girl hesitated, but nodded at last. 
Marden got off the stool, spinning a 
half dollar on the counter, and stum- 
bled, nearly falling. 

“That’s funny,” he commented, 
grinning wryly. “Felt like the floor 
gave way beneath me.” Indeed, there 
had been an odd sensation of — life — in 
the wooden floor, almost as though it 
had actually moved beneath his feet. 
He glanced down, noting that the 
cracks in the wooden plapks seemed 
awry, as though warped and twisted. 
They seemed to move as he watched, 
writhing back to their original posi- 
tion. Marden blinked. An optical illu- 
sion, he concluded. 

EARLY two hours later the road- 
ster was laboring up the slope 
of Coon Mountain. Half a mile ahead, 
across a canyon, Marden could see the 
bus his 'guests had missed. His eyes, 
kept returning to it, despite the dan- 
gerous curves of the mountain road. 
There seemed something distinctly 
unusual about its method of progress. 
It seemed to move forward jerkily, 
apparently leaping a few feet occa- 
sionally into the air; at any rate, 
Marden was sure that sometimes he 
could see the bus wheels clear of the 
road. 

He wondered what was the matter 
with him. Perhaps he was becoming 
ill, even the little roadster seemed 
difficult to handle today. It did not 
respond readily to his hand on the 
steering wheel, and he had a curious 
and inexplicable feeling of uneasiness. 




92 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



For some unknown reason, he felt glad 
that he was not in a closed car. 

His guests, apparently, noticed 
nothing unusual. The boy— Bob Har- 
rison — had driven the girl, Lorna 
Newton, to Los Angeles to attend a 
football game, and on the way home 
his car had broken down. 

“The garage was swamped,” Harri- 
son told Harden. “An epidemic of ac- 
cidents, it seemed. Lorna has -to get 
back to work by tomorrow morning, 
and I’ve got to get back to the uni- 
versity.” 

“Well,” Harden said. “I’ll catch up 
with the bus and put you on it. T was 
supposed to turn off here-r-” He ges- 
tured toward a half-hidden road that 
branched off just ahead among the 
pines. “But I can come back to it. 
I’ll be up with the bus 'in a few 
minutes.” 

Luckily, he wasn’t. The catastrophe 
happened just as Harden was at the 
hairpin turn of a narrow canyon. A 
hundred yards ahea'^d he saw the bus, 
a double-decker affair of blue paint 
and chromium. Abruptly the world 
went crazy. 

The road just ahead seemed to 
buckle, to leap up at an impossibly 
steep angle, so that the bus began to 
slide back. Automatically Harden 
jammed on the brake, sat staring. 

“Earthquake!” Harrison gasped. 

But it wasn’t. The asphalt road fell 
away from beneath the bus, and the 
vehicle smashed down with a metallic 
crash. The tires blew out with a 
deafening report. From within the 
bus came screams — agonized, terrified. 

For the bus was — collapsing!- It was 
folding inward upon itself, as though 
it were being crushed in the grip of 
some giant han'd. Glass shattered. The 
windows, instead of squares, became 
oblongs — ^became mere slits until, they 
disappeared as the metal fused. 

“Good Lord!” whispered Harden. 
“Look at the road !” 

Beneath the bus the asphalt was 
curling up, and the vehicle was sink- 
ing slowly from sight. It was as 
though the road had suddenly turned 
into a sea of sucking mud, dragging 
the bus inexorably down. A pande- 
monium of shrieks came to Harden’s 



ears. He saw a squat, bulky figure 
writhing into view from a window 
that narrowed as he watched. 

The man squirmed frantically for a 
moment; then he was free, and the 
metal coalesced behind him. He came 
racing toward the roadster, his mouth 
open in a frenzied oval of terror. 

The bus was now nothing but a 
long ovoid of smooth, glistening 
metal. It shrank, became a sphere a 
fifth of its former bulk. The screams 
had stopped. 

It sank from view. The asphalt en- 
gulfed it. 

T he squat man was plunging des- 
perately down a. road that swayed 
and buckled beneath him. Abruptly 
Harden sent the roadster rocketing up 
the slope at the side of the road,' felt 
solid earth giving like sand beneath 
the car. He raced the motor and man- 
aged to pull free, got the roadster 
faced in the other direction. The squat 
mgn came abreast of the car, leaped 
to the running-board as Harden beck- 
oned. A grinding unearthly roar was 
coming from the ground beneath them. 

Harden jammed -his foot down on 
the accelerator. He felt the little 
roadster sway dizzily, tilting danger- 
ously toward the precipice on the left. 
But the car’s speed carried it safely 
down the road. He caught a glimpse 
of Lorna’s face, strained and white. 

The squat man shouted something, 
scrambled frantically for footing. He 
managed to pull himself up on the 
body of the roadster, opened the 
rumble seat, and tumbled in. Glanc- 
ing down, Harden realized that the 
rimning-board had vanished. There 
was a thin strip of oddly blackened 
rubber running along the side of the 
car where it had been. 

Still the road swayed beneath them. 
Harden wrenched at the steering 
wheel, sent the car racing up the road 
that led to his uncle’s home. They 
topped the crest of a hill, and a little 
valley came into view,' in which a 
ramshackle frame house was set. 
There was an odd flickering in the air 
about the house. 

“The car’s falling apart!” Harrison 
shouted above the grinding uproar 



WHEN THE EARTH LIVED 



93 



that thundered from the earth. The 
door of the car at Harrison’s side was 
gone; white-faced, he clung to the 
windshield, and it seemed to melt and 
disappear as he clutched it. A blast 
of wind hit Marden’s face. 

The steering wheel came off in his 
hand. 

Luckily, the road was straight. He 
saw a tall figure come running from 
the frame house, pause for a moment, 
and then retreat quickly. The inex- 
plicable flickering in the air about the 
building faded, was gone. Marden 
pressed the brake and eased the car 
to a stop. It skidded, turned half 
around and paused in the middle of 
a garden. 

Above the rumbling of the earth a 
high-pitched whine sounded, grew 
louder. The flickering in the air began 
again ; but now it was beyond the road- 
ster and its shaken oiccupants. It was 
as though an invisible wall of strange 
force enclosed the house, guarded it. 

.Shakily Marden got out of the car, 
helped Lorna to alight. Harrison and 
the squat man hastily followed his 
example. They looked at each other 
silently. There didn’t seem to be much 
to say. 

Someone came ou^ of the house, a 
gaunt, slender man, with ascetically 
handsome features. His age was be- 
trayed only by the streaks of white at 
his temples. 

“Uncle Leon I” Marden said, and 
paused lamely. “I — we — well, I got 
here I” 

“So I see,’’ Dr, Kent said drily. 
“Come in the house, all of you, and 
have a drink. You need it.” 

R. KENT explained as he 
worked. He talked to them while 
peering into^ a microscope and making 
hasty calculations on sheets of paper 
that littered the laboratory table. The 
others sat around uneasily, watching 
him. Harrison and Lorna sat close to- 
gether on a bench, and Marden leaned 
against the wall, biting nervously at 
the bit of his pipe. The squat man 
was Stan Burford, a promoter on a 
vacation. He sat rigidly on the edge 
of a chair, his unintelligent face bear- 
ding a look of stupid fear. Just what 



he promoted he never made quite 
clear, Marden decided that the man 
was a petty gambler. 

Dr. Kent, still calculating busily, 
turned the screw of the microscope. 

“I did not think it would come so 
quickly,” he said. “I believe this is 
the only place on Earth where we are 
reasonably safe. The flickering in the 
air you noticed, Jim” — ^Marden had 
already mentioned this — “was due to 
a death ray I’ve adapted. It surrounds 
us, like a hollow globe of force. Or, 
rather, of annihilation. If I hadn’t 
seen you coming, and turned it off 
temporarily, you’d have been killed.” 
Lorna repressed a shudder. 

“I didn’t know death rays existed,” 
she said. 

The doctor stared at her. 

“My dear girl, death rays are no 
longer pseudo-science^ — they’re cold 
fact, as you’d know if you read the 
scientiflc journals — even the news- 
papers. I’ve simply adapted the ray 
to my own uses. It acts t a barrier 
to — to — ” He hesitated. 

“I think I have an idea of what’s 
wrong,” Marden said. “That ne’uula 
in Pegasus gave me the clue. It’s 
something — cosmic — isn’t it?” 

“Yes. An experiment, Jim — a cos- 
mic experiment, in which we are the 
subjects — the guinea pigs. You know 
the atomic theory, of course?” 

“That this Universe is merely an 
atom in a larger Universe, and so on, 
to infinity?” Marden asked. The doc- 
tor nodded. 

“That’s right. An old idea, of 
course. It’s served as the basis for 
innumerable pseudo-scientific stories, 
and, actually, it’s generally taken for 
granted by the world of science. But 
— you know what I’ve been working 
on for years, Jim, don’t you?’’ 

“Rays,” Marden said. “Yes. Espe- 
cially the cosmic ray. You don’t 
rqean — ” 

“Exactly. The cosmic ray put me 
on the track of the truth-^a truth so 
unbelievable, so strange, that I dared 
not announce my discovery. I’d have 
been laughed at, and worse. Perhaps 
put in an asylum. And I needed my 
freedom to complete my work. 
Whether it will do any good now — ” 
“The closest guess scientists have 




94 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



made as to the nature of the cosmic 
ray,” Kent went on, “is — life. And 
that’s just what it is. For ages men 
have tried to create artificial life in 
the laboratory. All the while/ they 
have neglected the most important 
factor — the cosmic ray itself, which is 
the source of life. All through this 
universe the ray has spread. And very 
slowly, very gradually, it has in- 
creased in power.” 

UT the Arrhenius theory — ” 
Harden began. 

Kent interrupted him. 

“It doesn’t conflict. Life spores can 
float from world to world — yes. 
Nevertheless, in the beginning, life 
was generated by the action of the 
cosmic ray. No one has guessed its 
source. That’s because it comes from 
beyond the universe — from the super- 
world in which we are merely an atom. 

“I can best make you understand 
by choosing familiar examples. Let 
us suppose that a scientist has . dis- 
covered a ray which creates life. He 
is experimenting with the atom. He 
turns this ray upon an atom-:-an ex- 
tremely complex one — under his 
microscope. He creates life, 

“But he is not content. He wishes 
to experiment further. He increases 
the power of the ray. And life — ” 
Harden gasped. “You mean that in 
this super-universe — but it’s impos- 
sible !” 

“Not at all ! For that’s exactly what 
has happened. In the super-universe, 
the cosmic ray has been increased in 
power by the Scientist — Scientists, 
rather — who are experimenting with 
the atom in which our world exists. 
Soon I shall show you how I know 
this, Jim. Do you know what life is?” 
“I know that,” the blond Harrison 
said. “Life is adaptability and 
growth.” 

Dr. Kent snorted. “These college 
students! Those are merely the at- 
tributes of life. A.living organism can 
adapt itself to its surroundings — and 
it can grow. But what is life itself?” 
“No one knows that,” said Harden. 
“Quite right. And the common 
error of the world of science is that 
it confines life to organic matter. 
Rocks, they say, cannot live. Hetal 



cannot live. Atoms cannot live. Yet 
you saw those things alive this morn- 
ing!” 

“What?” Harden frankly stared. 
For a moment he had a fleeting sus- 
picion that his uncle had gone insane. 
“It’s impossible !” 

“Don’t keep saying that! Ordinar- 
ily, yes. The power of the cosmic ray 
— the life ray — at first gave life to 
only those elements which could 
readily acquire it — organic entities, 
protoplasm, evolving to man. Now 
that the cosmic ray is stepped-up, the 
mysterious life force is spreading to 
all things throughout the Universe. 
Adaptability — and growth !” 

“The coffee spoon — ” Lorna whis- 
pered. 

They had told Kent of the incident 
in the roadside restaurant. 

“Yes,” he affirmed, nodding. “The 
heat of the coffee made it coalesce into 
a form in which it would feel less 
warmth than in its original shape. 
And the coffee boiler — the metal did 
curl out of the way of the flame. We 
can’t foresee what may occur — inor- 
ganic life is so alien to ours.. The 
weight of the bus perhaps caused the 
catastrophe on the road. The earth 
itself is growing and adapting itself. 
It is becoming alive.” 

“He’s craxy,” the stocky Burford 
whispered to Harrison. But the col- 
lege boy shook his head impatiently, 
waiting for Dr. Kent to continue. 

“The — infection — is spreading 
slowly, of course. As yet Earth feels 
only the first birth pangs. Later only 
the Lord knows what will happen. In 
this one spot, protected from the ac- 
celerated cosmic ray, are we tempo- 
rarily safe. But—” He shrugged. 

“Somehow I can’t really believe it,” 
Harden said slowly. “It seems too — 
incredible. I’ve always been taught 
that life is limited to organic matter.” 

“How can anyone know that, when 
no one knows what life is? Look here, 
Jim^ — and the rest of you.” 

R. KENT arose, and went to a 
table nearby on which a bulky, 
unfamiliar apparatus rested. A metal- 
lic screen, about two feet square, sur- 
moimted the strange machine. Kent 
pressed a button. Flashing light 





WHEN THE EARTH LIVED 



95 



played over the screen. 

“I'll show you the super-universe,” 
he said. “I stumbled on this during 
my experiments. It is a rather simple 
principle; I utilfze the cosmic ray 
Itself as a carrier to a visual beam, 
sent in the opposite direction. Out- 
ward. The peculiar properties of the 
cosmic ray make this possible. With- 
out it, naturally it would not work.” 
The flickering lights faded from 
the screen. A scene materialized into 
view, dim, greyish. Involuntarily 
Lorna cried out, clapped her hands to 
her eyes. A sharp twinge darted 
through Marden’s head as his eyes 
tried to follow impossible curves and 
angles. Unfamiliar, alien objects were 
visible — ^things that seemed to be con- 
structed according to a fantastic, non- 
Euclidean geometry. 

Strange curves twisted- and writhed 
into impossible angles. Only in the 
center of the screen was the image 
clearly deflned. Yet Harden could not 
understand what he saw. 

A machine — yes. That he knew. 
But it was not akin to any machine 
he had ever seen. It was built of 
crystal, planes and spheres impiriging, 
somehow, upon a single point where a 
spot of light glowed vividly — blazing 
light, blinding and unearthly. 

“The origin of the cosmic ray,” 
Kent whispered, “is in that super- 
universe. You are looking at our own 
cosmos from — Outside!” 

Something swam into focus — a 
slender, rodlike object, glowing with 
emerald brilliance. It hovered over 
the spot of light and retreated. 

“I think — I am not sure — I think 
that is one of the Scientists,” Kent 
said under his breath. “Watching the 
experiment that means destruction to 
mankind.” 

“Incredible!” Harrison exclaimed. 
Burford, tfie promoter, was muttering 
something inaudibly. 

“It is immaterial to me whether you 
believe or not,” Kent said coldly. “I 
— know. And that is enough.” 

“But what can we do?” Harden 
asked. “This means destruction. 
There’s no way — ” 

“There is a way,” Kent told him. 
“It’s a way which I’ve been planning 
ever since I got on the track of this. 



years ago. If that super-microscope 
can be destroyed, shattered — " 

Involuntarily Harden laughed, a 
short, bitter bark. His uncle raised 
his eyebrows. 

“Still skeptical, eh? Let’s return to 
our original comparison — our scien- 
tist, experimenting with an atom. Just 
suppose that some explosive com- 
pound far more destructive than dyna- 
mite were introduced under the lens 
of the microscope — and exploded.” 
“Wouldn’t it wreck the atom?” Har- 
rison asked. The doctor glared at him. 

ARDEN interrupted. “No,” he 
said. “It’d probably blow up 
the microscope and the laboratory — 
but the atom Wouldn’t be hurt, natur- 
ally. Far too small.” 

“Exactly,” the doctor affirmed. 
“Well, that’s my plan. That’s what 
I’ve been working on for years. And 
it’s almost completed. I’m going to 
send a sphere packed with that new 
explosive, thernol3m, into that super- 
universe — and make it wreck the 
microscope and the machine that gen- 
erates the cosmic ray!” 

Stunned by the magnitude of Kent’s 
plan, Harden could only stare. The 
docxor went on swiftly. 

"Again I shall use the cosmic ray 
as a carrier beam. The thing is far too 
complicated to explain, nor have I 
time. For three months now I have 
been working on the final problem — 
timing the explosion so that it will 
occur at the right moment. The 
strength of the cosmic ray will natur- 
ally be much more powerful at its 
source. Hy calculations are based 
upon that. I’ll let the ray itself ex- 
plode the thernolyn, Jim — I’ll need 
your help. The rest of you can do 
as you wish. But don’t go near the 
death ray barrier!” 

“Can I help?” asked Harrison. The 
doctoi; grunted unpleasantly. 

“By keeping out of my way, yes, 
Jim, here, knows little enough, but he 
has the rudiments of scientific knowl- 
edge. The rest of you — ” 

With a shrug he turned back to his 
microscope, beckoning to Harden. 
With a reassuring smile for Lorna, 
Harden picked up a pencil and moved 
to his uncle’s^ side. 




96 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



The launching of the thernolyn 
sphere was unspectacular. The object 
was a glistening, metallic ball, about 
a foot in diameter,- within which Dr. 
Kent had constructed the machinery 
which would send it into size. The 
liquid thernolyn was at the last mo- 
ment poured into a valve in the side 
of the ball, and Kent, after a hasty 
reference to his sheaf of calculations, 
touched a protruding lever. 

Very slowly at first the sphere be- 
gan to increase in size. In ,a second 
it was two feet in diameter — three 
—eight— 

It became tenuous. Dimly within 
it Harden glimpsed a complicated 
array of machinery, the glistening, 
whitish thernolyn. Then suddenly it 
seemed to leap up, towering to the 
horizon, a hazy ghost of a sphere. 
Harden seemed to be within it for one 
amazing second. It dwarfed the most 
colossal structure man had ever 
reared — 

And it faded and was gone! Into 
size — rushing at stupendous speed to- 
ward the super-universe, bearing its 
cargo which m^^nt salvation for 
Earth ! 

“Will it really have any effect?” 
asked Lorna. “A mere shadow — ” 

“It’ll be real enough — Outside,” 
Harden said. “As it grew the atoms 
making up its structure expanded, 
naturally. But if it reaches the super- 
universe, it’ll be quite as dense as the 
matter there. How long will it take. 
Uncle Leon?” 

Dr. Kent pursed his -lips. 

“I’m not sure. There are so many 
loopholes, so many chances for error. 
Possibly in an hour. You see, its speed 
— its rate of growth — is increasing 
continually. The time-rate Outside 
is no doubt different — mi hour to them 
might be, a million years to us. Indeed, 
that’s the only reason I had time 
enough to make my preparations.” 

HERE’S nothing to do but 
M. wait, then,” Harden told Loma. 
“I wish I knew what was going on 
outside this valley. Too bad the radio 
won’t work.” 

“One thing I’m afraid of,” the doc- 
tor said slowly. “The cosmic ray is 
increasing in power. Hy death beams 



can’t battle it much longer. Indeed, 
it’s seeping through already. Look at 
that I” 

^He pointed to a small, rounded stone 
about as large as his fist which was on 
the ground near by. Without visible 
means of propulsion, it was moving 
slowly toward another stone several 
feet away. Burford, the promoter, 
stared with bulging eyes. 

“Ye gods,” he murmured hoarsely. 
“Now I’m crazy too!” 

Chuckling, Harden moved forward 
and picked up the stone. It seemed, 
oddly, to writhe and move beneath his 
fingers. He dropped it. 

It bounced. A solid bit of rock — 
bounced ! On hard ground, it bounded 
up several feet, and as Harden gasped 
in amazement, it went, in a series of 
little leaps, toward the other stone. 
It hit it with a little cracking sound, 
and apparently stuck to it. The grey 
surfaces of the stones seemed to crawl. 
Abruptly there was only one rock, 
twice the size of either of the two 
original ones. 

“Life,” said Kent. “Atomic life. 
Growth — and adaptation.” 

The ground shuddered beneath 
their feet. The joists of the house 
cracked ominously. “Maybe we’d 
better stay out here,” Harrison sug- 
gested, a frightened note in his voice. 

“I’m going in to watch the screen,” 
said Dr. Kent. “We’ll be able to see 
the sphere on it when it becomes 
visible in the super-universe.” 

Burford’s thick lips were moving 
soundlessly. Harden didn’t like the 
glassy stare of his pale eyes. Fright- 
ened, superstitious, there was no tell- 
ing what the squat promoter might do. 
He determined to watch Burford 
closely. 

Nearly an hour had passed. Little 
had happened. It had become a coih- 
mon sight to see stones crawling 
slojvly along the ground, in curious, 
ameboid mov^ent. Too, the ground 
itself seemed oddly unstable, prone 
to shaking and giving dangerously 
beneath one’s feet. The house, in the 
very center of the invisible barrier of 
death rays, was- little affected as yet. 
Once a chandelier had dropped to 
shatter on the floor. Occasionally a 
window would smash for no visible 



97 



WHEN THE EARTH LIVED 



reason. 

Harden alternated between his 
uncle’s laboratory, where Dr. Kent 
sat with his eyes glued on the screen 
showing the super-world, and outside 
the house, where the others wandered 
about in a somewhat dazed fashion* 
He watched Burford covertly. It was 
clear that the man was cracking under 
the strain. 

His lips moved continually, and 
frequently Harden would catch such 
phrases as: “. . Judgment day . . . 

all goin’ to die . . . end of the 
world . .” And once the man had^ 

turned to shout at him, “We’ll all be 
dead pretty soon. We gotta make the 
most of life now!” 

Harden had moved forward to quiet 
him, but the promoter had become 
silent abruptly as Loj-na came into 
view aroimd the comer of the house. 

“Okay,” he said to Harden’s sharp 
remonstrance. "Forget it, buddy. I’ll 
be all right.” 

ARDEN wasn’t so sure. Nor 
was he surprised when, a few 
minutes later, while standing beside 
his uncle watching the screen, he 
heard an angry shout from outside the 
house. Swiftly he was on his feet, 
racing for the door. 

Loma was struggling in the grip 
of Burford, trying to evade the kisses 
he was planting on her averted face. 
Harrison, the college boy, was sitting 
nearby staring*’ around dazedly. A 
blue welt was rising on his chin. 

“Stop it, Burford!” Harden snapped. 
The promoter’s head jerked back, and 
quickly he released the girl. She 
leaped away, pausing in the dporway 
of the house as Harden lunged for- 
ward. He had seen Burford’s hand 
dive beneath his coat, and he guessed 
what that meant. 

He was right. Burford’s hand came 
out with a gun. But he didn’t squeeze 
the trigger. He lashed out viciously 
at Harden, brought the barrel crash- 
ing against the man’s head. The world 
went black. 

Dimly Harden heard a scream. He 
got to his feet, fighting back his dizzi- 
ness, just in time to see Harrison 
stagger into the house. The others 
had vanished. 



Harden got to his feet and followed 
Harrison. From the laboratory came 
a cry, and the crashing of glass and 
metal. In the doorway Harden 
stopped, swaying. 

Burford was backed against a wall, 
his gun menacing the three figures 
who stood facing him — Lorna, Harri- 
son, and Dr. Kent. A tangle of wreck- 
age on the floor beside an overturned 
table betrayed the 'struggle that had 
taken place. 

“You fool!” Kent shouted. “That’s 
the ray projector — the death ray — and 
you’ve wrecked it! We’re unpro- 
tected now!” 

“Shut up!” Burford snarled. “I’m 
gonna live the last few minutes of my 
life.” He waved his gun at them. 

Suddenly the floor shuddered. 
Joists creaked ominously overhead. 
Somewhere a pane of glass shattered. 

Harden sent his body hurtling for- 
ward. Burford had not yet seen him, 
and there was a chance — 

The gun roared. A bullet screamed 
by Harden’s head, buried itself in the 
wall. There was an unnaturally loud 
rending of wood. Harden hit Bur- 
ford’s legs, sent him hurtling back. 

According to all natural laws, the 
promoter’s gross body should have 
smashed against the wall with an im- 
pact that would have driven the 
breath from his body. But the wall 
wasn’t there! Harden had a flashing 
glimpse of wallpaper stretching and 
ripping, of a gap appearing in' the 
solid wall as Burford’s body was flung 
back; and then the two lay, dazed and 
incredulous, on the floor — half in one 
room, half in another, There was a 
four foot gap in the wall reaching 
from floor to ceiling; 

Faintly he heard Dr. Kent’s tri- 
umi^ant cry. 

“The sphere! It’s there — it’s Out- 
side!” 

He knew that the tiny, glistening 
globe bearing the deadly themolyn 
had at last become visible on th^ 
screen, had at last reached the super- 
universe. Whether it would explode 
or not — 

HE fate of a Universe hung on 
that question. But at the mo- 
ment Harden v/r.s concerned with a 





98 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



more immediate problem. Burford, 
half pinned beneath his opponent’s 
body, had wrenched his arm free, had 
swung it up until the gun pointed at 
Marden’s face. The muzzle seemed to 
be growing larger and larger as the 
promoter’s finger tightened on the, 
trigger. 

A look of astonished horror came 
over Burford’s face. He was staring, 
not at Marden, but at the revolver in 
his hand. So was Marden. It was no 
longer a gun. 

It was alive! 

The barrel twisted like a snake. It 
seemed to grow shorter. It was a blob 
of shapeless, bluish metal in Burford’s 
thick hand. The man screamed in 
agony. 

His fingers were caught in the 
writhing metal as it contracted. Blood 
spurted out suddenly, splashing Mar- 
den’s face. He didn’t move, even 
though he heard a crashing of falling 
timbers. The floor twisted and swayed 
beneath him. He felt himself flung up 
as though on the crest of a wave — up 
and up, until his head struck some- 
thing with a sickening crack. He 
knew it was the ceiling. 

He heard Lorna scream, heard Kent 
and Harrison shouting. Somewhere 
metal crashed. The world had gone 
insane. 

All over Earth, in that incredible 
moment, fantastic scenes ^were being 
enacted. For twenty-four hours in- 
explicable things had been happening. 
No one could explain them.. News- 
papers had carried flaming scareheads 
until the presses had refused to oper- 
ate. But not until the last moment^had 
the cosmic ray sent its full power 
roaring through the Universe, the 
stupendous power of unchained life 
that had sent a nebula thundering 
from its course. In that tremendous 
secorid when the earth lived men went 
mad and death stalked unbridled. 

Prometheus unbound! The power 
of life was no longer limited to or- 
ganic matter, and the cosmic ray ruled 
over an Earth gone mad! 

A truck driver jammed on his 
brakes as the ground swayed beneath 
him, and stared with bulging eyes at 
the Los Angeles City Hall, towering 
in white majesty. The Southern Cali- 



fornia city’s only skyscraper was 
moving! It was gliding out into the 
street, crushing buildings in its path, 
hurtling relentlessly to-ward the , man 
in the truck. He jumped out of the 
vehicle and started to run. There was 
a grinding, thunderous roar, and he 
threw a terrified glance over his 
shoulder at an eidolon of smooth white 
blankness that was almost upon him. 

The building seemed'to be melting 
down to shapelessness — its outlines 
were blurring, the corners rounding, 
the tower becoming a mere blob. He 
screamed as he was engulfed,' and 
then a thing like a puddle of animate 
stone was smashing its way along 
Broadway. 

In a, New England cemetery the 
watchman was having a quiet smoke 
as he leaned against a tombstone, pon- 
dering over the curious events of the 
preceding hours. He felt an uneasy 
stir beneath his feet and got. up 
quickly. He hoped it wasn’t an earth- 
quake. 

It wasn’t. Out of a crack in the 
grass-covered earth something was 
seeping up — ^something which the 
watchman knew very well he had seen 
buried there three weeks before. It 
looked almost human for a moment, 
and then became a horrific mass of 
monstrous flesh and bone that seethed 
and bubbled as it crept toward him. 
The watchman was frozen with hor- 
ror. He thought it was merely a dead 
man coming to life. 

H e didn’t know that it was the 
atoms in the dead body which 
had come to life; There was no in- 
telligence — the original organic vital- 
ity had fled forever. This was some- 
thing different. Adaptation and — 
growth. 

The thing touched his feet, flowed 
up around his legs. He felt a sharp 
pain biting through his body as his 
flesh coalesced with the horror — 
which was merely following its 
natural instinct of feeding so that it 
might grow, just as the two rocks had 
merged in Dr. Kent’s garden. The 
watchman stared silently at the tide of 
horror creeping up his body, and little 
flecks of foam appeared on his lips. 
And adaptation. In the Pacific 



WHEN THE EARTH LIVED 



99 



Ocean, the crater of Mauna Loa had 
become unusually active. Natives eyed 
the mountain with apprehension, 
whispering of the Old Woman who is 
supposed to dwell beneath the volcano 
■and breathe out flaipe \vhen she is 
angry with her worshippers. An avia- 
tor, flying low oyer the crater, battled 
to hold nis plane steady while his 
co-pilot watched with incredulous 
eyes. 

The crater appeared to be widen- 
ing. 

Actually, the mountain was spread- 
ing out. The intense heat of the 
molten lava had caused the atoms of 
the mountain some obscure discom- 
fort, and it was simply going away 
to a cooler place. The peak seemed to 
roll away on all sides, like a flood of 
lava descending. But it wasn’t lava. 
It was Mauna Loa, spreading out in 
a great circle, wiping out all life, and 
coming to rest at last under the ocean 
that surrounded the island. The tre- 
mendous air-currents tore the wings 
from the plane, and it dropped like a 
plummet to destruction. 

In the Adelphi Theatre, in London, 
a dancer was pirouetting about the 
stage, wearing a skimpy but adequate 
garment of steel-mesh. She came to a 
halt in the center of the stage, with 
-the spotlight focused upon her, strik- 
ing a climactic pose. Abruptly the 
mesh cloth which was her sole garment 
seemed to crawl over her body, and 
dropped to a tiny puddle of glistening 
silver at her feet. The audience ap- 
plauded wildly, heedless of the shrieks 
of a fat matron in the dress circle 
whose several dozen diamonds had 
suddenly decided to unite. 

They raced over her pliunp bosom, 
sending her into hysterics, and, fusing 
in her lap, turned into carbon^ — or- 
dinary coal. A quite natural phe- 
nomenon, under the circumstances, 
but one which caused the matron to 
drop dead of heart failure. 

A European dictator, reviewing his 
army, was extremely pleased with a 
new type of war tank, capable, as one 
of his generals explained, of killing 
forty times as many men as the tanks 
used in the World War. While ex- 
amining the interior of the tank, the 
dictator cracked a' joke, at which his 



general laughed dutifully. 

Some obscure vibration in the man’s 
bellowing laugh had an important ef- 
fect upon the metallic atoms surround- 
ing them. Soldiers standing at atten- 
tion outside were treated to the spec- 




tacle of the slow collapse of the tank, 
while the men imprisoned within it 
screamed vainly for aid. 

Neither the dictator nor the general 
survived. 

In Sing Sing prison, a man, waiting 
to be hanged, was pleased to discover 
that the bars which held him prisoner 
were melting into a wholly inadequate 
little fence on the threshold. However, 
as he was about to leave, he inadver- 
tently stumbled against the stone wall 
of his cell, and a hole appeared in the 
concrete large enough to permit easy 
egress. 

At this he decided he was dreaming, 
and therefore remained where he was. 

S N a little valley in the California 
mountains Jim Marden was pinned 
between the ceiling and a floor that 
had risen like a wave, listening to his 
uncle’s exultant shout : 

“I’ve done it! By the Lord Harry, 
I’ve done it! The sphere’s exploded!” 
Marden will always regret that he 
did not see the screen at that last cli- 
mactic moment. There was really little 
to see. Dr. Kent told him later. The 
tiny, shining ball had suddenly ap- 
peared on the screen in the midst of 
the other-world microscope, and as 
suddenly the screen had flared up in 
a blaze of white light — and had gone 
blank. . 



100 



.THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



The explosion had undoubtedly 
wrecked the Outside microscope, if 
not the entire alien laboratory, and 
simultaneously the cosmic ray had 
ceased to function. 

Mardeh managed to extricate him- 
self, and clamber down a steep slope 
that had once been part of the floor. 
Burfbrd, they found, was dead. He 
had been' crushed between ceiling and 
floor, a fate which Marden himself had 
escaped by the narrowest of margins. 
Neither Harrison nor Lorna was seri- 
ously injured. 

They were glad to get out of the 
wrecked house, and for a little while 
stood silent in the dusk, staring 
aroimd at a world that seemed, oddly, 
little changed. After a time Kent said, 
“There’ll be reconstruction. Man has 
survived, undoubtedly. And he’ll re- 
build. in fifty years — twenty-five — 
there’ll be no trace of this catas- 
trophe.” 

“There’ll be no— recmTence?” Har- 
rison asked weakly. The doctor shook 
his head. 

“According to our time-sense, it’ll 



be thousands of years, maybe mil- 
lions, before those Outside can re- 
place thrfr apparatus. A day or a 
week to them — and an age to us. Even 
so, how can they find an atom? No, the 
Universe is safe now — forever, I 
think.” 

“The cosrhic ray is gone?” Marden 
inquired. “We’re still alive, though.” 

“Of course. The ray only- creates 
life. After it is created, it can exist 
independently. Luckily, the life of 
the atoms was transient. There was 
not sufficient time for them to reach 
a point where they could continue 
their life after the cosmic ray had been 
destroyed. It’s the same old Earth, 
Jim.” 

Marden didn’t answer. Kent looked 
up. 

His nephew was very close to Lorna, 
and she was smiling up at him. Har- 
rison said something inaudible, and 
then glanced at the doctor, shrugging 
resignedly. 

Dr. Kent grinned. 

“Yes,” he observed with relish. “It’s 
the same old world !” ' 



SCIENTIBOOK REVIEW 



MARCONI: THE MAN AND HIS WIRE- 
LESS. By Orrin B. Dunlap. Jr. Illustrated. 
The Macmillan Company. $3.50. 

S N 1001 Signor Guglieltno Marconi sent 
the first wireless signal across the At- 
lantic from Poldhu in Cornwall to St. Johns, 
Newfoundland. It cost Marconi $200,000 to 
send those three dots across the ether — but 
it was worth it. 

Marconi and wireless are inseparable and 
synonymous. One cannot be told without 
the other. Marconi’s life is a chapter in the 
history of civilization. What he has achieved 
— what he has said — all interwoven with his 
inspiring personality and the genius of his 
som, m^e an impressive, almost incredible 
story of accomplishment within the span of 
a lifetime. 

In less than forty-years Marconi saw wire- 
less communication develop from the slow 
spellin^-out of telegraphic signals between 
two pomts in the same house to the world- 
wide transmission of music and the human 
voice; within thirty years from the time 
when he succeeded in hurling the letter S 
across the Atlantic it was possible for thel 
whole world to chat- back arid forth through 
the> air, across oceans. 

Out of Marconi wireless and the vacuum 
tubes developed by such men as Langmuir, 
Willis R. Whitney and W. D. Coolidge came 



the familiar radio— something civilization 
could not do without. The monument of 
the man who did so much to make this 
possible will stand in imperishable bronze, 
and Mr. Dunlap has done well in giving us 
his story so authoritatively and interestingly. 

Marconi’s scientific interest began when 
he was a boy on his father’s estate near 
Bologna. -Of delicate health, he read widely 
in the older Marconi’s scientific library, tried 
to extract nitrogen from the atmosphere and 
amazed his p^ehts by his passion for any- 
thing pertaining to electricity. In 1894, 
when he was 20 years old, he read how 
Hertz “radiated, electromagnetic waves' with 
an electric oscillator he had. developed, and 
how little sparks appeared in the tiny gap 
of a metal loop across the room, although 
there was no connecting link except the 
air.” At once it seemed to him “that if the 
radiation could be increased, developed and 
controlled it would be possible to signal 
across space for considerable distances.” His 
“chief trouble was that the idea waB so ele- 
mentary, so simple in logic, that it seemed 
difficult to believe no one else bad thought 
of putting it into practice.” 

For the layman the story of Marconi as 
preswted here is an exciting drama of one 
of "sci'erice’s most significant milestones.— 
R.L.D. 




Thb Sro^peo 

RoTATiNG. 



GRADUALLV OVER A 
PERIOD OF VEARS. 



S'r' S//^OSf^ 

FOUR ReGUL<»iR 
SeASGNS WOULD C£AS£ 
TO evisT, irNSTEAo.TneRe 
WOULD se A SIX MONTHS' 
OAV AND A SIX MONTHS' 

.NiSHT SucceeoiNG each orneR. slaz/'/vs 

AIEAT AND /(VT-EA/SS U/GHT FOR HALF A V£AR — 
a/TTER COOO AND OAAKNESS FOR THE 
Other hac_f/ 





®HE SUN, AT ANV ONE SPOT. 
WOULD RISE WITH EXAGGSRATEO 

seowness. sunrise would be a 

PHENOMENON OF TWO WEEKS. WEST- 
WARD trauel At the rate of sixtv 
MILES PER DAY IN NEW YORK'S LATI- 
TUDE WOULD PERMIT A TRAUELER 
TO HAVE THE SUN ABOVE HIM CON- 
TINUOUSLY/ 




^NLy EARTH'S EQUATORIAL BELT WOULD BE HABITABLE DURING 
THE LONG NIGHT, ALTHOUGH INTOLERABLY HOT DURING THE DAY SEA- 
SON. THE temperate ZONES WOULD BE COMFORTABLE IN THE RE - 
PERIODS. THUS THERE WOULD BE AN EQUATORIAL MIGRATION AT 
I SUA/Ser’AND A NORTH AND SOUTH EXODUS AT ‘O/MJON" MANiSlND 
WOULD BECOME A SEMf-PE R eNN'i AL NOf^AO! ^ .,5. 




ggeRMfllMelMT CITI6S would have TO 
ee CQuippeo with elasoaaTe refriger- 
ation PROTECTION FOR THE LONS, HOT 
I SEASON, AND WITH SUPER-HEATING 
1 eqUlPMENT TO GUARD AGAINST THE LONS 
I MONTHS OF FRIGIO NIGHT. FOOD WOULD 
HAVE TO ee STORED IN TREMENDOUS 
OoiANTlTlES OR CREATED SyNTHETiCALL'K' 




?Li«^NT-LlFE WOULD FOLLOW THE SUN 
AROUND THE EARTH, GROWING PROLIFIC - 
ALLY IN A WIDE BELT STRETCHING FROM 
NORTH TO SOOTH, CREEPING OVER EARTHS' 
SURFACE TO BLOSSOM IN PERPETUAL 

morning sunlight animal life would 

FOLLOW THAT BELT MANKIND WOULD 
MIGRATE ONLY IN THAT ZONE/ 



IF A second deluge FLOODED THE EARTH! 

101 





F©ir Scores Centuries Mankind Ponders tke 
Wonder of ftke Heovens os Celestial Fire 
Careens in Its Orbit in tbe Skies! 





MB© ilNPEi 



Author of ’'Judgment Sun,” "The Chessboard of Mars” etc. 



“N‘ 



Prologue 

OW each of you,” said Pro- 
fessor Higgins, “can take a 
look through the telescope 
and see just how flimsy and tenuous 
the comet’s tail really is.” 

It was 1910. Halley’s comet, the 
most conspicuous and dependable of 
all the comets, hung in the night skies 
resembling a giant rocket ship speed- 
ing through space, exhaust gases jet- 
ting steadily and furiously. 



Professor Higgins’ small telescope, 
regulated to follow the comet in its 
course among the stars, magnified the 
tail so greatly that through its wraith- 
like veil could be seen clearly the 
celestial suns. His ’dozen guests of 
the evening peered into the eyepiece 
one by one and found no words to de- 
scribe the majestic beauty revealed to 
them. 

“A comet,” Professor Higgins ad- 
dressed the group, “consists of a tiny 
nucleus, probably solid, various envel- 



108 



104 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



opes of tenuous gases that distend it 
to giant size, and a long stream of 
ejected gas so rare and sensitive that 
even the pressure of the sun’s light is 
able to push it around, So that while 
the comet swings around the sun like 



“Now, just what is the tail, why 
does it stream from the nucleus, and 
why does it shine so brightly? As I’ve 
mentioned before, astronomers know 
little about comets, and the why and « 
wherefore of the tail is still a mystery 
to scientists, Of course, the spectro- 
scope has told us that the tail gases 
contain cyanogen, carbon monoxide, 
and nitrogen, but their peculiar bril- 
liance and their emission from the 
nucleus is a subject for controversy. 
The study o^ that class of phenomena 
takes the astronomer into the most in- 
tricate theories of higher physics and 
chemistry, and the t^e of the tail — if 
you will pardon a pun — is hot yet 
fully told. 

“Let me say this, though, dbout 




those bodies which occasionally flare 
up in our night skies to the astonish- 
ment and wonder of all mankind, add- 
ing to the magnificence and thrilling 
mystery of the Universe. We can only 



surmise, my friends, what great influ- 
ences comets may have had ort past 
histofy when they appeared blazingly 
in the ancient skies, causing unedu- 
cated minds and superstitious hearts 



to quake and tremble. 

“Many comets in pre-scientific re- 
cordings have been coupled with 
plagues, earthquakes, wars, and the 
rise and fall of empires. It would be 
fascinating indeed to have a super- 
natural power enabling one to visit 
the past during each of the comet’s 
appearances and to see just What ef- 
fect they had on credulous people who 
believed in nether spirits, demons, 
emd all sorts of strange gods.’’ .... 



CHAPTER I 
Fear 



a squat and 
powerful figure, moved warily 
through the fringes of jungle. Swung 
over his brawny shoulder, but poised 
for instant use, was a short, heavy club 
of very hard wood. Its end was bulg- 
ing and knotted. There were strands 
of animal hair and spots of dried blood 
ground permanently into the grain. 
Many and many a time had that crude 
but effective weapon sped the lives of 
other jungle creatures. 

Club-Killer neared the spa with ex- 
treme caution, choosing a rocky route. 
Saber-Tooth, whom he was hunting, 
did not like rocky paths. Therefore 
he would not catch Club-Killer’s 
spoor. Nearing the spa, Club-Killer 
lifted himself into a huge tree. 

One by one the forest beasts, timid 
and wary, slunk up like wraiths and 
drank from the spring below. Some- 
times two and three at a time. Club- 
Killer was not aware of Saber-Tooth’s 
tawny presence until the animal cata- 
pulted out of the bushes like a light- 
ni^ bolt'. 

T^o hoofed creatures fell easy 
prey. Saber-Tooth, half bear and half 
tiger, had killed one by ripping off its 
head with a mighty paw, and the other' 
with a snap of its great jaws. 

Club-Killer trembled. Now was his 
chance. He dropped in the shadow of 
the tree, balanced himself on his toes, 
and ran forward. The mighty club up- , 
raised in both hands, Club-Killer 
swung it down at the tawny skull slob- 
bering in fresh meat and hot blood. 
All the force of his great shoulders 
and the mornentum of his run was in 
that blow. Saber-Tooth tumbled to the 
groimd, his sktill crushed like an 
eggshell. 

Panting, Club-Killer gazed down at 
the great animal he had killed. Then 
he expanded his mighty chest. From 
his lips rolled an ululation that bid de- 
fiance to all the vsrorld. 

He had killed Saber-Tooth. He was 
great and mighty. He could hitnt now 
without fear. Wh<y would dare to 



a stone on a sling, the tail always 
points away from the sun. 



LUB-KILLER,’ 




A COM^ MSSES 



m 



rtand before the killer of Saber- 
Tooth? He was lord of the jungle 
again. Of slinking panthers, cowardly 
hyenas, and such he had no fear. His 
knotted club was more than they 
could match. He stepped away from 
the spa and made his way out of the 
jungle. Unconsciously, he swaggered. 

Suddenly he stopp^ stock still, 
staring into the heavens, A most awe- 
some thing was there — a flaming rib- 
bon of light that stretched from hori- 
zon to zenith. One end was a ball, the 
other flared fanwise. It hung in the 
pool of stars like a roseate saber. 

Club-Killer faced the light for a 
brave moment. Then a howl of abys- 
mal fear tore from his lips. Dropping 
his club, trembling in every fiber of his 
being, Club-Killer the mighty, slayer 
of Saber-Tooth, ran precipitately back 
to his cave. He sneaked into a comer, 
trembling with fear, terrified by the 
awesome spectacle of fire in the 
heavens. 

URROUNDED by Oriental splen- 
dor the young man with curly 
brown locks of hair looked moodily at 
the dozen men eating and drinldng 
with the great gusto of military life. 
The yoxmg man alone of the assem- 
blage was smooth shaven, and that, to- 
gether with his fair skin and hand- 
some, boyish features, made him look 
yoimger than his thirty years of age. 
Yet his exotic clothing was the richest 
of the lot, and despite his youthful 
appearance the men seated before him 
treated him only with great deference 
and respect. 

They were officers of the Greek 
army and their leader, the youth at the 
head of the table, was Alexander of 
Macedonia, later to be known as Alex- 
ander the Great. 

Alexander sat there, hardly tasting 
of the rich and spicy foods of Persia’s 
fertile tillage, staring moodily at 
empty air. A great problem weighed 
on his mind. He turned suddenly to 
General Polemus, who sat at his right. 

“Polemus,” he spoke at last, in a 
voice of commanding timbre, “shall 
we go on? Shall we add to the glory 
and greatness of Greece?” 

Polemus answered cautiously : 
“There is none more eager than I to 



add to the greatness of Greece. Yet 
let us remember those wise words: 
‘They that lust . for too much, some- 
times lose all.’ ” \ 

“In other words,” said Alexander, 
fixing his general with a compelling 
eye, “you intin^ate that if I seek new 
conquests, I may have dissolution of 
the empire at my back?” ’ 

“Yes, Emperor,” said Polemus 
firmly, despite scornful glances. from 
some of the others. “I have hinted it 
before, but now- 1 will state it openly 
as my opinion of what would be the 
outcome if we ventured past the In- 
dus, which at this moment lies out- 
side, ready to be crossed.” 

The company held its breath, ex- 
pecting Alexander to denounce Pole- 
mus in arrogant wrath, for Alexander, 
vain and conceited, disliked being 
balked or advised. But the yoimg 
world-conqueror surprised them all, 
Polemus included, by merely raising 
his eyebrows. Then he turned to 
General Kalijan at his left. 

“And what say you to that, my fiery 
Kalijan?” 

“I say piffle,” spoke Kalijan with a 
leer toward Polemus. Kalijan, a Per- 
sian formerly in Darius’ great army, 
and who had been elevated to officer- 
ship in the Greek army because of his 
reputed military genius, was tnxly a 
son of Mars. “Beyond the Indus River 
which lies at our feet is a great and 
rich land in which there are shrines of 
gold, solid gold, by Zeus! Even be- 
fore you. Emperor, came along to 
show us how to fi^ht, my people used 
to cross over and in small raids carry 
off priceless booty. I tell you there is 
treasure for the taking in that land of 
Dravidians, and the people — poof! 
We could blow them away like chaff. 
May all the gods eat my heart out if 
I am wrong!” 

“Good !” applauded Alexander as 
the roar of Kalijan’s voice died away. 
“Now here we have the sagacious Pol- 
emus on my right hand — the faithful 
general who has been my constant 
shadow for a decade — ^bidding us turn 
back lest my empire fall apart, and 
we have the stormy Kalijan at my left 
shouting that great wealth is ours if 
we cross the river. Now my captains 
and majors, what thinks each of you?” 




106 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



OWN the line went Alexander, 
addressing each one in turn, ask- 
ing which way their inclinations went. 
The final count showed five that 
agreed with Polemus, and five that 
voiced most heartily agreement with 
Kalijan. The rest would give no com- 
mittance, and said that wherever their 
Emperor led them, they woulfi follow, 
whether ahead or back. 

Alexander sighed, glancing from 
left to right perplexedly. 

“So it stands, six to six! Either I 
must cast my decision or — Ah, me ! If 
only the wise Aristotle were here!” 

Alexander seemed to fall into a 
trance, and the officers took the op- 
portunity to gorge, themselves with 
more food and wine. Alexander’s hes- 
itancy at this time, when formerly his 
decisions had always been instan- 
taneous, was a most strange thing to 
his officers. Having conquered prac- 
tically the whole Western part of the 
then-known world, what secret doubt 
caused him to pause at the brink of 
the Dravidian lands (India), well 
knowing it was rich and unprotected? 

No one knows. . . . 

But Alexander did cross the Indus, 
apparently having made up his mind 
to conquer India. A week later his 
army had marched south on tht^other 
side of the Indus to a point from 
which to strike out in the conquest 
of that vast land. It was night and 
the young conqueror sat alone in his 
tent, again moody and thoughtful. 
Despite his high resolve, and .despite 
Kalijan’s blustering confidence, Alex- 
ander vacillated. On the rnorrow he 
was to give the signal to advance into 
the new land. 

Should he listen perhaps fo staid 
and earnest old Polemus and turn 
back? If he entered India and lost 
himself in its conquering for a few 
years, might he not return to the West 
to find himself a throneless monarch? 

Suddenly there was a low murmur 
from outside and a moment later an 
orderly dashed into the tent, gasping 
in excitement. 

“What is it, fool? Speak and tell 
me!” sai^d Alexander, springing to his 
feet, thinking that some rriysterious 
enemy had attacked., 

"Emperor ! There is a Strange light 



in the sky. No one knows what it is! 
The men are uneasy and — ” 

Alexander brushed the orderly 
aside and darted outside the tent to 
step out under the stars. Almost at 
the same moment the officers came 
running up. 

They all peered at the celestial 
phenomenon that himg eerily over 
the land of the Dravidians like a giant 
glow-worm with hairs of light spread- 
ing in a grand sweep toward the nadir. 
There was no moon, and in the blackr 
ness of night it seemed to pulsate and 
writhe, as though it were angry. 

“It is a fire in the sky,” said Kalijan, 
breaking the silence of the company. 
“By Zeus, I hope it does not fall 
here!” 

Polemus had been watching Alex- 
ander’s face closely, and had seen 
written there a great and fearsome 
awe. Alexander had always been 
knowcn to have great respect for sooth- 
saying, black magic and the like. 

“It hangs over the land of the Dra- 
vidians,” Polemus suggested craftily. 
“Might it not be their god preparing 
to protect the country against our 
invasion, with a bolt of lightning in 
his hand?” 

Alexander started nervously and 
peered yet more closely at the heav- 
enly light as though to verify Pol- 
emus’ subtle surmise. 

“Yes^yes,” the world-conqueror 
said softly, too stricken with awe to 
raise his voice. “Tomorrow we start 
back for Greece!”. 

n 




CHAPTER II 



Prophecy 



¥ HE astrologer held the paper 
close to the flickering taper and 
read from it — or appeared to read 
from it. ^ 

“Jupiter being in the ascension and 
fast approaching bpposition to Mars, 
which presages much battling; and 
Saturn retreating from the zenith and 
waxing to brightness in the early 
morning hours, it is apparent that the 
zodiacal, signs are tending toward a 
three-fold triangular configuration, 



A COMET PASSES 



107 



which — ” 

“The devil take you!** burst in 
Count Robert testily. “Do you play 
with my temper? Have done with 
your learned embellishmeints and give 
me the gist of thejmatter, or by God, 
will — ” 

“You will read it yourself?” 
mocked the astrologer, holding out 
the parchment. 

“C5h, no, no,” said D’Aine hastily, 
to whom writing was as much a mys- 
tei*y as star-gating. “My — my eyes 
are bad; I would but fumble it. You 
read, good sir, but for Mary’s blessed 
sake, tell me what I want to know!” 
“Then listen closely,” said the old 
man, making his voice sonorous and 
portentous. “I have read the stars. 

I have bared their celestial secrets. 
It has been revealed that your inva- 
sion into barbaric Saxony, sometimes 
called England, will prosper greatly 
providing it be done instantly. You 
will win much. Count Robert, and 
your name will ring in all Normandy 
as one of its most heroic leaders.” 
The astrologer, without raising his 
head, rolled his eyes to see what 
effect the words had had on his pa- 
tron. Count Robert’s face had suf- 
fused with a radiant glow and his 
eyes shone happily. 

Satisfied, the astrologer continued 
reading in the same sepulchral, pro- 
phetic voice: “The Saxons will fall be- 
fore your men-at-arms like reeds, 
wondering frantically what invincible 
enemy has attacked them. But you 
must push ahead rapidly or your con- 
quest will go for nothing. Fear hot, 
for the stars have crowned your fu- 
ture with glory.” 

“Voila!” cried the count as the old 
man stopped. “Success — fame — 

glory — they shall be riiine ! If the 
stars say it, how can I fail?” 

“As the stars foretell, so shall it 
be,” nodded the astrologer. “Sooth- 
saying, the mortal gift divine, as read 
in the almighty stars, is a true portent 
of the future. Your ten pieces of gold 
will bear you an hundred-fold fruit, 
in that my predictions send you on 
your conquest the sooner, that it may 
be wholly successful.” 

The count spoke after a pause : 
“You will remember to what death a 



certain self-named astrologer came at 
the hands of the wrathful Duke de 
Chaplette — ^how he was hunted from 
his hovel and tortured, and forced to 
eat his own lying tongue! Remember 
that, old sir, and remember that I am 
like to do the same thing to you if my 
future is not as you paint it I” 

Despite a chill that clutched his 
heart at the threat, the old astrologer 
answered firmly: “You threaten one 
who has no reason to fear your words, 
in that he knows he has read the stars 
right. However — ” 

He licked dry lips. “However, come 
with me to the roof. I will check 
once more my calculations.” He did 
not think it necessary to mention that 
he might find a disturbing note in the 
stars, so that he might make his pre- 
dictions double-edged. 

ALTERINGLY the astrologer 
led the way up rickety steps with 
a candle to light the way, and ushered 
his guest out into the chill of mid- 
night on the flat roof of his ancient 
abode. Hardly had they stepped out 
under the open sky than they both 
gasped aloud. 

Hanging in the void and slowly as- 
cending from the horizon was a celes- 
tial phenomenon unmatched for 
grandeur except perhaps by an eclipse 
of the sun. Its dazzling brilliance 
lighted up the desolate moorland al- 
most as the moon might have at^full, 
and the long, shimmering tail which 
streamed from a head many times 
brighter than sc'intillant Venus 
seemed to be unwinding from some 
cosmic spool below the earth. 

“Blessed saints!” cried the count, 
crpssing himself. “What — what fear- 
some thing is that?” 

He suddenly grasped the astrologer 
fiercely by the arm. 

“You that have watched the heavens 
three score years and more, and have 
read the meanings of its eternal pag- 
eant — you must know what it means! 
Tell me, what does it signify in my 
horoscope?” 

It was a poor time to falter, and 
realizing it, the old astrologer spoke 
firmly, increasing his voice till it be- 
came a cackling shout. 

“It is a godly symbol, a heavenly 




108 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



talisman,” he intoned, “and he that 
acts to his best ability and to the most 
righteous purpose while its influence 
reigns in the skies will surely become 
great and mighty. More than that I 
cannot and will not say.” 

“Then if I begin my campaign this 
very night — this very night of May 
10, 1066,” said the Norman eagerly, 
“I will be attended by the great for- 
tune that this mysterious light from 
heaven sheds on mortals below! Is 
it so, old man?” < 

“It is so,” nodded the astrologer. 
Without a further word the count 
sprang away, raced down the steps, 
flung himself oh his horse tethered 
outside the door, and galloped away 
toward the Norman military head- 
quarters. 

The astrologer watched the horse 
vanish in the night gloom. Then he 
suddenly became imbued with an 
energy, if not quite as spry, at least 
as earnest as that displayed by the 
count. He stumbled down the steps, 
nearly breaking his thin neck in the 
process, and flew into his room of 
books and' writings, shouting a name 
“at the same time until the whole build- 
ing rang with echoes. 

“Jebedee! Jebedee! Come here at 
once! Jebedee-e-e! Thou sluggard! 
Thou cursed snail ! Jebe — ” 

“Yes, master,” answered a voice at 
the, door. Jebedee, the old man’s ap- 
prentice and future successor as as- 
trologer and alchemist, stood there 
but half dressed. 

“’Tis about time,” growled the old 
man, thurnbing a book furiously. "Can 
you come tio quicker when your mas- 
ter calls and when every second is 
precious beyond sight?” 

“I was in bed, master, as is my right- 
ful due. I came as quickly as I 
could — ” 

“Cease thy aimless chatter, fool, 
and harken to me. Jebedee, this night 
may see the accomplishment of my 
life-long aim — in fact, the dearest aim 
of every one of our learned sect.” 
Jebedee gasped and blinked. 

“What do you mean, master? Not — 
not — ” his voice fell to a hushed whis- 
per — “not the philosopher’s stone!” 
“Exactly,” cried the old astrologer. 
"If I could only find — ah, here it is. 



Zolon’s masterful treatise—” 



E HELD a volume up to the 
light, retrieved from the midst 
of the pile, a most aged and battered 
sheaf of crudely bound parchment 
which would be ready to crxunble to 
dust in another few years. Yet in 
spite of its poor condition, the black- 
inked writing on its pages was clearly 
legible wherever the page itself was 
not missing. The astrologer fumbled 
through the sheaf excitedly and 
finally stopped at a sheet marked with 
superimposed notes on the margin. 

“Yes, yes, Jebedee, my son,” said 
the old man. “The Philosopher’s 
Stone itself ! Listen, I will translate 
a passage from this vile Greek, written 
before our lifetime by Zolon, the mas- 
ter magician of Zoroastria! As fol- 
lows: 



. . . and this compound, treated with human 
blood, and then exposed to the magic rays of 
a strange ^ear of light, that has a nose and 
tail and which comes but once in a millennium, 
will cast out of itself a stone like unto a ruby, 
but with magical powers that change base 
metals to pure, shining gold I- I swear in the 
name of dread Baal that I had the stone three 
days and made with it a huge sack of golden 
metal, and then I was preyed upon by thieves 
who took both gold and stone. . . . 

“Did you hear, Jebedee? The 
strange spear of light that has a nose 
and tail and comes but once in a mil- 
lennium is in the sky at this moment! 
Hurry, prepare me the first part of 
this compound, while I do the rest. 
Hurry, J ebedee, it will be our one and 
only chance to achieve this great 
thing — a magical stone which can 
change dross to gold!” 

An, hour later, after the laboratory 
had been filled with the reek and 
fumes of corrosive chemicals and boil- 
ing liquids, the two zealous alchemists 
stormed to the roof with a bronze pot 
of hissing and seething chemicals, into 
which they both poured some of the 
blood of their veins from self-inflicted 
wounds. 

Then they stepped back to let the 
magical glow of the strange heavenly 
object pour into the pot, to crystallize 
in its fuming depths the Stone that 
would convert lead to gold. At least, 
so they hoped! 



A COMET PASSES 



109 



chapter III 

Reason 



NE of your bronze crucifixes 
with a chain for the neck,” re- 
quested the woman who had just en- 
tered the small jeweler’s shop. She 
continued as the shopkeeper selected 
one from stock and proceeded to wrap 
it carefully : “And can you guess, M. 
Brignaic, whom it’s for? None other 
than Briggs, that worthless English 
drunkard whom I have kept out of the 
gutters these last two months!” 

Madame Brignaic jerked her head 
from the floor, where she had been 
picking up the broken pieces of a 
set of dishes her husband had knocked 
down. 

“What does he want with a crucifix, 
God bless us, he that came in this shop 
once and cursed most bitterly our 
church?” 

“Would you believe it,” informed 
the customer, “that he is mending his 
evil ways? And of course there is but 
one thing that has brought such a 
lost soul to repentance^ — ” 

The wornan pointed aloft signif- 
icantly, paid for her purchase, and 
hurried out. The Brignaics looked at 
each other in astonishment. 

“And it is also that which caused 
me to break the dishes,” said M. Brig- 
naic solemnly, pointing upward, as 
his customer departed. “I tell you, 
wife” — his voice became shrill— -“it is 
like to drive me mad! Each day for 
a week now it has been the same. 
Every hour, every minute, every per- 
son that comes in t^lks of it in hushed, 
tones, in awed tones, in frightened 
tones. Even Captain Jussic, who fears 
nothing, came in this morning sub- 
dued and quieti And the news of the 
day, what does it tell — riots, blood- 
shed, insanity, murders. 

“The past week has seen more of 
such horrible things than any full 
year before. Only this morning, 
while you were asleep, a jnan ran 
screaming by in the street, perfectly 
mad, waving his arms and pointing 
in the sky. And do you know, Maria” 
— his voice fell low suddenly — “it can 



now be seen in broad daylight !” 

The woman srossed herself, gasp- 
ing, her previous rage over the broken 
dishware completely forgotten. 

The comet of 1680, very bright and 
dreadfully large, seemed to hang over 
the world ominously, threateningly. 
Its effect on a civilization that had 
barely struggled from the abysmal 
superstition and ignorance of the 
Dark Ages was profound, striking ter- 
ror into the hearts of the masses. 
Weak, depraved and timid natures, 
unable to quell a rising fear, broke at 
the weakest link of their mental chain 
and metamorphosed into lunatics, 
beasts, and cringing human rats. 

In the larger cities like Paris, mobs 
would tremble and shudder and sud- 
denly run amuck, killing and destroy- 
ing in the blind fear that had come 
upon them. Even strong minds could 
not gaze upon the awesome celestial 
light without qualms of doubt and 
wonder. Of course, there were ten 
thousand different opinions concern- 
ing the phenomenon. One claimed 
that it meant the coming of the Second 
Christ, another that it predicted 
Earth’s destruction by fire. 

But there were at that same time a 
few, a pitiful few, who in the light of 
a new science, were neither frightened 
nor amazed. 

S T WAS the evening of the day 
that M. Brignaic had broken the 
chinaware in extreme nervousness. 
With the approach of dusk and the 
thought of that awful light in the sky, 
the shopkeeper becanie more and more 
nervous. He had heard practically 
all of the dire predictions circulated 
among the masses and in his simplicity 
believed the worst of them — particu- 
larly those that promised destruction 
and damnation. 

He moved about his shop warily, 
as though ready at any moment to flee 
should something happen. His wife 
was in the rear with the children, 
comforting them and refusing to let 
them out of her sight for even a 
second. 

Quite suddenly the street door 
swung open and two figures rushed 
in. One of them promptly threw his 
arms around M. Brignaic’s neck. 




110 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



“Father, it is I — Enric, your son!” 
Recognizing him, the old man burst 
into happy tears. 

“My son!” he sobbed. “Is it truly 
you? It has been such a long time — ” 
The young man cut him short : “Ex- 
planations later. Father. Right how 
I want you to serve this gentleman 
whom I’ve brought here — ” 

The other man, considerably older 
and very impatient at the moment, 
immediately spoke: “A block of 

Naples paper, my good man. And 
hurry. Naples it must be; I use no 
other. Holds the ink well. No, don’t 
wrap it — I must be going immediately. 
The night will be over only too soon, 
and I have much to do.” 

With the paper clutched tightly un- 
der his arm, he ran to the door, speak- 
ing over his shoulder : “I will expect 
you in an hour, Enric.” 

“Who was that?” asked the shop- 
keeper, astounded, as a carriage^ 
rumbled away from the door. 

“My master, for whom I work,” in- 
formed Enric. “He took me for his 
assistant when I met him at Oxford. 
Father, that man will one day be 
famous, if not while alive, at least 
after death. . His name is Dr. Halley.- 
He is an English astronomer and 
mathematician. I have but an hour 
to stay with you, father — ” 

“But an hour!” wailed the old man, 
“when you have been away from your 
father’s ^.reside for seven years — ” 

“I will be back, perhaps in a week 
of so,” promised the son, “for a longer 
stay. But right now only an hour; 
then I must go to Signore Cassini’s 
observatory and work through the 
night.” 

“Through the night! What is this 
work you have to do, Enric?” 

“I am a mathematician, Father, and 
all night I will be working with pen 
and paper, helping Cassini and Halley 
plot the course of the comet in the 
sky.” 

M. Brignaic turned pale. 

“My son, what have you to do with 
that object of evil which will engulf 
the world in fire and destruction — ” 

It took the young mathematician 
many minutes to ekplain to his agi- 
sted father that the light that hung 
in the sky, despite its awesome as- 



pect, was only a heavenly body mil- 
lions of miles away, something as 
harmless as the stars. 

*®N^0N’T you understand?” cried 
the son. “Ah, when will the 
li^ht of science and reason clear the 
minds of men? Listen closely. 
Father. The earth is a ball, a globe: 
It circles through space around the 
sun, as do all the planets with their 
satellites. And that thing which has 
terrified the people is nothing but anr 
other member of the Solar System, 
whose orbit is as yet unknown. 

“But tonight, or soon. Dr. Halley, 
with the help of Cassini and his tele- 
scope, will plot its heavenly course, 
and if Dr. Halley is right it will mean 
one of the greatest discoveries of all 
time! He already suspicions that a 
comet has a closed orbit which will 
bring it back to the sun periodically. 
Our figures and calculations will show 
us whether it is so or not. If we — ” 

“Enric!” 

The son stopped, suddenly realizing 
he had been forgetting that his father 
could understand nothing of those 
things, 

“Enric, you bewilder me with those 
words. But tell me one thing and I'll 
be satisfied — is it true that the — the 
comet, as you call it, will not— will 
not—” 

“Destroy the earth?” finished Enric, 
smiling. “I swear to you by all that 
is holy, father, that such a thing can- 
not occur! Reason forbids it!”. 



CHAPTER IV 
Men on a Comet 



W ITH a sullen drumming of sev- 
eral hundred sturdy rocket- 
tubes, the space ship Discovery slid 
away from Earth gracefully and ar- 
rowed out into the void. Long and 
slender, equipped with wings for at- 
mospheric navigation, the shaft of 
beryllium accelerated steadily under 
the power of its rocket engines. Its 
hungry_ valves were fed by the pale 
blue Trinotex liquid, several hundred 
times more powerful than gasoline.' 



/ 



A COMET PASSES 



111 



Inside, an hour later, when Earth’s 
atmosphere had been navigated with- 
out accident. Captain James Willoby, 
Am-NY-b-22, class A Cosmicon — or 
space navigator — looked over the list 
of his crew carefully. Elach time he 
came across a name familiar to him, 
mostly Class A and B Cosmicons, he 
lifted his brows in pleasure. A won- 
derful crew of men. A half hundred 
stalwarts inured to the hardships of 
space travel, unaffected by the inca- 
pacitating space-nausea, and imdis- 
turbed by a lack of normal Earth’s 
gravitation. 

The door opened to the captain’s 
office and First Officer Milton Jones 
entered, saluted and stood respect- 
fully at attention. Jones was a fine, 
upstanding young man with an alert 
way about him that Captain Willoby 
liked. Furthermore, he was an 
Am-NY-b — in plain words, American 
Continent, New York City, and class 
“B” intelligence. Class “B” was topped 
only by class “A.” 

“Any special orders. Captain?” 
“No, no,” returned Willoby. “Usual 
routine — three watches, turn about. 
Three men at controls. One man at 
meteor deflector. Regular engine 
crew. Oxygen inspection every hour, 
etc. However, I want three men at 
the radio — Venus, Mars apd Earth 
connection at all times. The . infor- 
mation we pick up is too important 
to risk missing.” 

“Yes, Captaip.” 

“By the way, Jones,” said the cap- 
tain, dropping formality, “how do you 
feel about this whole thing?” There 
was curiosity in his voice, and friend- 
liness. 

The first officer unconsciously re- 
laxed at the comradeship offered in 
his superior’s tones, and a radiant 
glow lit up his face. 

“Grand, Captain! I feel that this is 
a great honor for all of us, and I for 
one was overjoyed when my applica- 
tion was accepted. I’ve been to Mars, 
sir, and to Venus, dozens of times;' 
but believe me, this is altogether dif- 
ferent. There’s a sort of — of’,’ — he 
groped for words — “adventurous 
thrill! Like. going to another starj” 
The captain nodded. Involuntarily 



their eyes swung to the lee port where 
in the blackness of the airless void a 
long sweeping cone of shimmering 
light with a dazzling apex hurtled 
among the calm stars. Eight centuries 
ago Dr. Halley had plotted the ellip- 
tical orbit of the comet that bore his 
name. Little' did he realize then that 
posterity would eventually reach it in 
a space vehicle, to examine it at first 
hand! 

Captain Willoby and his daring 
crew, commissioned by the Earth 
Federation, were soaring out with 
drumming rockets to meet the comet 
which every 76 years since time im- 
memorial had careered past Earth, a 
constant challenge to humanity’s 
thirst for knowledge. 

LTHOUGH space ships had been 
plying between the inner planets 
for two centuries, and though ships 
had returned from distant Saturn 
safely, the attempt had never been 
made to fly to a comet. The ship Dis- 
covery would be the first in that 
pioneering move. Needless to say, a 
world was breathless behind them, 
waiting for its sons to radio back 
what they would find. 

As First Officer Jones left the cap- 
tain’s office to transmit his orders, 
Oberton, the course-plotter, entered. 

“I have made the final checks. Cap- 
tain, and the course is down on this 
chart. Barring accidents, it should be 
easy. The comet i^ coming at a gradu- 
ally increasing speed as it is nearing 
perihelion. It will pass the orbit of 
Mars at its own elevation from the 
ecliptic hi an hour. Our ship, follow- 
ing this course, will draw into the 
fringes of its tasil, five million miles 
back of the head, three days from 
now. Then it is simply a matter of 
increasing speed and drawing up into 
the tail. 

“At the prescribed rate previously 
agreed upon, we will catch up and 
reach the nucleus before the orbit of 
Venus is reached. Beyond that it 
would be dangerous to follow the 
comet as the sim’s heat becomes in- 
tolerable and the speed of the comet 
accelerates too rapidly to allow us to 
duplicate it without danger.” 




112 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



Willoby nodded, looked over the 
course-chart for a few minutes, and 
then okayed it with instructions to 
have it made in triplicate and put be- 
fore the triplicate control boards in 
the pilot room. 

At the end of the second day Cap- 
tain Willoby called the scientists to- 
gether in the ship’s observatory, a 
dozen earnest and eminent savants of 
Earth. Looking from one to the other 
of their eager faces, he spoke : 

“Gentlemen, in ten hours our ship 
will draw into the tail of the comet, 
five million miles behind the nucleus. 
As per your reqUest, my crew will pull 
the ship up into the tail, gradually 
approaching the nucleus, which we 
will reach a week later. In that week 
you gentlemen must do all your test- 
ing and observing. My radio opera- 
tors stand ready to transmit your data 
as soon as it is made. In this you 
must be prompt because — ” he paused 
but one of the scientists finished 
calmly: “Because we may not' live to 
carry the information back to Earth in 
person!” 

“Exactly,” nodded the captain. “We 
understand one another thoroughly. 
Now mind, I am not predicting dis- 
aster. We ought to come through it 
without the slightest danger. But be- 
cause of the mere fact that so little is 
actually known about a comet, we 
simply do not know what will happen 
when we draw our ship up into the 
tail and crawl toward the nucleus.” 

“Rest assured,” spoke one of the 
scientists gravely, “that we under-^ 
stand our position thoroughly. If we 
are to die, so be it.” 

Such was the spirit that drew the 
Discovery into the comet’s tail, when 
its navigators could not know 
but what any moment some unfore- 
seen, inexplicable destruction might 
engulf them. As they 'became sur- 
rounded by the ghostly luminosity of 
the tenuous tail, the scientists went 
furiously to work. Every few min- 
utes they pximped in gas samples, and 
while part of their number analyzed 
the material chemically and electri- 
cally, the rest made all sorts of intri- 
cate tests with spectroscopes, electro- 
scopes, and various meters. 



T he , skilled radio operators sent 
out continuous data, three sepa- 
rate lines of communication on differ- 
ent wave bands, to make certain that 
none of .it would dissipate into the 
void of space.'' No ill or strange effects 
were noticed while the ship was en- 
veloped in the tail, and the captain 
bored the ship ahead steadily. 

For a long week the routine went 
on, while the scientists became ex- 
cited over some of the new things 
discovered about the comet’s tail. 
Gradually the gases became denser, 
although never did they approach the 
thickness of even a man-made vacuum 
tube’s contents! Looking out of the 
ports. First Officer Jones could see 
the reaches of space as clearly as 
though they were in the absolute 
void, except that thereiwas the faint- 
est indication of fogginess on the 
glass. 

I Finally the nucleus of the comet 
drew near. Excitement reigned 
aboard. What had long been sus- 
pected, but never proved, was now 
seen to be unquestionable fact — the 
comet’s head had a kernel of solid 
matter about ten miles in diameter! 
An hour later, after considerable dis- 
cussion pro and con. Captain Willoby 
finally yielded to the scientists’ 
pleadings, and maneuvered for a 
landing ! 

“But Captain!” First Officer Jones 
had said upon hearing the decision 
from his superior’s own lips. “Isn’t it 
dangerous? It looks from here that 
the solid lump of matter which com- 
oses the nucleus is very | hot, per- 
aps molten. Surely the outside hull 
will gradually weaken — ” 

“I guess not, Jones,” returned the 
captain. “The scientists tell me, and 
swear it up and down by all the gods, 
that theinucleus merely looks hot, but 
that it is really a sort of ‘cold fire’ that 
won’t affect bur hull at all. I’m going 
to chance it, Jones, because I think it’s 
a shame to get this far and then turn 
back, without landing. Think of it — 
we will be the first human beings to 
land on a comet’s nucleus!” 

Manned by a crew somewhat nerv- 
ous because of the fearsome appear- 
ance of the glowing, fiery ball below 



A COMET PASSES 



113 



them, the Discovery blasted its nose 
rockets powerfully, slid around the 
tiny lump of matter for three revolu- 
tions, and then plumped to- the 
"ground” with a slight jar. 

In the laboratories, twelve earnest 
scientists, hollow-eyed from lack of 
sleep but imbued with exultant spirit, 
silently set to work on their endless 
and intricate tests. The radio opera- 
tors flashed the thrilling word to civi- 
lization — ^“We have landed on the 
comet’s nucleus. It is solid. Stand by 
for data!” 

Finally one of the scientists came 
stumbling into the captain’s office 
where Willoby and Jones had been 
gazing out of the port and talking 
over the sensation of being on a 
comet. 

“Captain!” the savant gasped. 
“Space-suits ! There is no reason 
under the sun why we shouldn’t step 
out there in space-suits!” 

Captain Willoby started. That was 
a little more than he had bargained 

“Are you sure it will be safe? Don’t 
forget a space-suit is not as good 
protection as five beryllium hulls. 
Are you certain no dangerous radi- 
ations or rays will stab through the 
fabric of the suits and — ” 

SCIENTIST broke in. “God, 
Captain!” he cried. “You don’t 
think we’d suggest it without first 
making tests? Unless bur instru- 
ments are all wrong, there is nothing 
out there beyond the five hulls that 
can harm a man in a space-suit. And 
as for the advantage of it — God, some 
of my colleagues say there is actually 
some sort of plant life out there! 
Quick! Space-suits! This is the great- 
est thing in all history! Space-suits, 
Cap—” 

The scientist suddenly slumped to 
the’ floor. Jones picked him up, 
alarmed, but there was no concern in 
Willoby’s face. 

“Nothing serious, Jones. That fel- 
low fainted from pure lack of sleep. 
He and the rest of those men — I can’t 
help but admire them — are driving 
their tired bodies to the limit to get 
the most out of this. Take him to the 



doctor, Jones, and then report back 
here.” 

When First Officer Jones returned, 
the captain looked him over musingly. 

“Jones, I like you. I’m going to give 
you a chance to go down in history — 
if you have the nerve!” 

“I’ve got tons of it!” returned 
Jones, drawing up. 

“Weil, it’s like this,” went on the 
captain. “I ' can’t let those scientists 
step out onto the ground out there‘ in 
a space-suit without first having some- 
body precede them to see whether 
it’s safe. I can’t do it myself because 
of the Cosinicon rules that a captain 
must stay vtrith his ship under all 
extraordinary circumstances. So if 
you, Jones—” 

“Eight, sir. I’ll go right away.” 

“Good,” nodded the captain. “Go 
out there by the front lock, and stay 
out for three hours. Don’t wander 
more than a few hundred feet from 
the ship and — and watch yqurself, my 
boy,” he added tenderly. “Best of 
luck!” 

A clumsy figure in a puffed out 
space-suit stepped from the air-lock 
of the Discovery and leaped lightly 
to the spongy ground. With a hun- 
dred envious eyes watching him, he 
strode forward among the queer knobs 
and tiift formations of the cometary 
landscape. The intense radiance sur- 
rounding him seemed like a licking 
flame about to consume him. Yet he 
did not falter as he walked around 
the ship in ever widening circles. 

Once he stopped and picked up, 
after several trials with his stiff 
gauntlets, a flexible stalk of some 
strange, imearthly plant growth, and 
waved it aloft so that those in the 
ship might see. The scientists caught 
their breath and conversed excitedly, 
eager to go outside themselves. But 
the captain was adamant — only aftqr 
Jones had survived three hours and 
come in unharmed would he let them 
sally out. 

First Officer Jones felt like a god as 
he walked over the spongy surface of 
the comet’s nucleus. And well he 
might, being the , first man ever to 
tread the imearthly land of a comet 
that passes. ... 





Science Questions 

and Answers 




T his department is conducted far the benefit of readers who have per- 
tinent queries on modern scientific facts. -As space is limited, we can- - 
not undertake to answer more than three questions for each letter. The 
flood of correspondence received makes it impractical, also, to promise an 
immediate answer in every case.. However, questions of general interest'' 
will receive careful attention. 



WHAT IS GRAVITATION? 

Editor, Science Questions and Answers: 

If, as Einstein’s latest generalization seems 
to Imply, gravitation and electro-magnetism 
are more or less similar forms of the universal 
energy. Is It to he assumed that there may be 
surrounding every material body or group of 
bodies a gravitational field somewhat allied 
to the magnetic field adjoining a magnet? If 
so, may It not be that gravitation extends 
only a measurable distance beyond our and 
other galaxies and Is, therefore, NOT AO- 
TUAIiY UNIVEESAIi In space? 

I do not know that there Is any objective 
evidence or proof that mutual Inter-relations 
exist between out galaxy and other universes 
myriad millions of light-years distance in the 
void. 

There seems to be some evidence that our 
Solar System Is moving as a unit among the 
stars and, perhaps, that .out galaxy Is turning 
on an axis of Its own. IliLiybe It is a gigantic 
gyroscope forever whirling In one plane in 
one comer of "space"! 

W. S. V., 

La Habia, Calif. 

We believe that there is much to substan- 
tiate the view that ‘‘universal gravitation," 
as we see it, may be only the way that the at- 
traction between material bodies manifests it- 
self in the neighborhood of our earth, that is 
in our Solar System. We have very little evi- 
dence that the inverse square law of Newton 
holds throughout the entire Universe. 

Science has not yet been able to explain 
the basis of gravitation. Assuming that In- 
terstellar space is empty, science has not yet 
explained why two bodies can attract each 
other across, the gulf of emptiness. The ether 
was invented some years ago as a device 
which might explain gravitation. That is, as- 
suming there was an ether, the force of gravi- 
tation could be exorcised by disturbing the 
ether in some unknown way. 

One new theory claims that there is an 
ether filled with radiations of so short a wave- 
length that it pervades all' matter. Nothing 
can stop it. This radiation, like light, exer- 
cises a pressure in all directions. When it 
passes through a material body, however, part 
of the radiations are changed and some of 
them lose their pressure-producing power.- 
Now if there were only one body in the Uni- 



verse, nothing resembling gravitation would 
occur for the , change in radiation would bo 
the same in every direction. But given two 
bodies as the earth and the moon the space 
between them is filled with a great deal of 
the pressureless radiations. Inasmuch as both 
bodies have pressing on them the pressure pro- 
ducing radiations there exists a tendency for 
the bodies to draw together. This tendency 
is called gravitation. Although this theory is 
open to many arguments it is an approach to 
an understandable gravitational phenomenon 
that might act universally. — Ed. 

VISIBLE LIGHT BY RADIO 

Editor, Science Questions and Answers: 

Are radio waves, cosmic taye, ultrsrvlolet 
rays. X-rays and heat and -light rays the same, 
only of different frequencies? And Is it pos- 
sible with the proper apparatus to construct a 
radio transmitter which would send out waves 
so rapidly that they would be visible, as vis- 
ible Ught? 

C. N., 

Engadlne, Michigan. 

Badio waves, heating radiation, infra-red^ 
rays, visible light, ultra-violet rays, X-rays, 
gamma rays and (presumably) cosmic rays 
are fundamentally similar, but differing in 
frequency and I consequently in wavelengths. 
This difference causes them to have varying 
effects upon matter which lies in their ]^th. 
.For instance, only those fays are visible wmich 
are of a suitable length to produce a chemical 
change in the molecules of ‘‘visual purple'.' 
on the retina of the eye. The ultra-violet 
waves are too short and the infra-red' waves 
hre too long. 

The 'shortest wave which a radio transmitter 
oan set out is limited by the electrical con- 
stants of the apparatus, and this in turn can- 
not be separated entirely from its physical di- 
mensions. For that reason, it- is impossible 
to build a transmitter which will send out in 
the ordinary manner waves only 1/30,000-inch 
long. The shortest ‘‘radio" waves which have 
been produced were 'about 1/30 to 1/300-inch 
long (estiniated) ; and were generated, not by 
a transmitter, but by causing a current to 
jump between iron filings which were mixed 
with insulating oil. If the same process were 
‘applied with such energy as to produce in the 
iron molecular motion, which would cause 




THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



115 :. 



’rays,, between 1/70,000 and 1/35,000 wave- 
length to be emitted, the result would' be light. 
We.^ would not consider the result to be 
“radio” waves, however. 

As radiation becomes higher in frequency 
and', shorter in wavelength, it loses the char- 
acteristic which we associate with “radio,” 
and assumes those which we associate with 
light. Badio below one meter wavelength is 
quasi-optical. 

THE VALUE OF PI 

Editor, Science Questions and Ans'wers; 

Has an exact value for PI evar been worked 
out? If not, for how many decimal points is 
It known? 

A. W., 

Sydney, K. S., Canada. 

Pi, which is one of the most fundamental 
values in mathematics, is the quantity by 
which the diameter of a circle must be mul- 
tiplied to obtain its circumference, and its 
value is not known exactly. Archimides in 
attempting to And the relationship between 
the. diameter of a circle and its area stumbled 
across this elusive pi. It is known to 700 
places. Calculated to 35' places by Ludwig 
Van Ceulen, these figures were carved on his 
tombstone erected in 1010. 

3.1415920525S079323846264338327950283 

By this figure it is possible to calculate the 
circumference of a circle immensely larger 
than that made by our Solar System, with an 
error too small to measure by any known 
means. The figure, then, for all practical pur- 
poses, is a perfect one.« — Ed. 

THE ROCKET IN SPACE 

Editor, Science Questions and Answers: 

If oxygen Is necessa^ for burning or com- 
bustion, how would a rocket bum (Its fuel In 
space? I have heard many people say that a 
rocket will operate In space, therefore/ 1 ask 
this que^on, since there Is no oxygen In 
space. And what la the most powerful of 
known fuels? How well does It supply the re- 
quirements to shoot a rocket beyond the 
earth’s attraction? From what I understand. 



It takes an enormous amount of fuel to m^e 
an Interplanetary rocket filght. 

A. B., N. T., H. Y. 

\ 

Because there is no oxygen in space, a, 
rocket must carry all of its own fuel. That 
fuel will be either hydrogen, gasoline, alcohol 
or possibly some other hydrocarbon. The 
oxygen to burn or consume it will- be carried 
on the ship also in the liquid form. By having 
the oxygen as a liquid, a great deal more of 
it can be contained in a given space. There 
is consequently a great saving in container 
weights, which is very important. 

If it were not necessaiy to carry along 
oxygen on a rocket voyage, and it could be 
obtained from space, as an airplane obtains 
It from the atmosphere, the problem of an in- 
terplanetary voyage would be speedily settled. 

For your second question, as a matter of 
fact, the energy required to make an inter- 
planetary fiight by rocket is considerably, be- 
yond that available in present fuels. 

There is necessary 21,000,000 foot-pounds of 
energy to shoot merely one pound of weight 
beyond the earth’s attraction. This does not 
include the air resistance nor does it take 
into consideration the fuel necessary to steer 
a rocket in space or make a landing upon an- 
other world and finally make a safe return to 
earth. 

The most powerful of present known fuels 
is the mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquid 
oxygen, which on perfect combustion yields 
per pound, some 5,500,000 foot pounds of 
energy. It is evident on the face of it that 
the fuel could not even carry its own weight 
beyond the earth’s attraction, not to say lift 
a space ship, passengers, equipment, etc. 
However, by the step rocket principle, the 
fuel requirements are reduced to some 15,- 
000,000 foot pounds per pound of weight, and 
calculations show that the fuel could just 
about lift itself. 

To explain, as fuel burns, it is ejected from 
the rocket and therefore the weight of the 
remaining fuel is reduced. The average 
weight of a pound of fuel lifted dnring its 
burning is possibly Yj pound. Therefore if 
we start with three pounds of fuel, with a 
total energy of 16,000,000 foot-pounds, it will 
be required to lift beyond the earth’s attrac- 
tion an average of only one pound or 15,000,- 
000 foot-pounds. — Ed. 



Manly Wade Wellman 
Myer Krulfeld 
Raymond Z> Gallun 
Eando Binder 



Frank Belknap Long, Jr. 
Hal K. Wells 
D. L. James 
Jack Williamson 



— and Many Others in Forthcoming Issues 




MN this depaitment we shall publish your opinions every month. After 
§ all, this is YOUR magazine, and it is edited for YOU. If a story in 
THRILLING WONDER STORIES fails to click with you, it is up to you 
to let us know about it. We welcome your letters whether they are compli- 
mentary or critical — or contain good old-fashioned brickbats! Write regu- 
larly! -As many of your letters as possible will be printed 'below. We can- 
not undertake to enter into private correspondence. 



SUGGESTIONS 

By J. J. Demaree 

Have just read T. W. S. and think “Lost 
in Time” and “Menace from the Microcosm” 
the best of the novelettes .with “Black 
Vortex” and “Green HSll” leading the shorts. 

But here’s something I’d like to see. “The 
Story Behind- the Story” has made me 
curious about our authors. How about one 
or two biographical sketches each month 
about them — where they live, what they 
look like — you know. You could take, them 
alphabetically — Binder, Burks, Cummings, 

' Campbell through to Wandrei and Zagat. 
How’s about it? — Los Angeles, Calif. 

(Well, readers, how about it? Would you 
like to see such a department added to T. W. 

S. ?— Ed.) 

PENTON AND BLAKE WANTED 

By Philip McKernan 

. Thanks for the swell cover on the 
August issue of THRILLING WONDER 
STORIES. By all means retain Mr. W for 
both covers and story illustrations. 

The only story I didn’t care for was "The 
Solar Menace,” and this story took up so 
little space that it detracted little from the 
issue as a whole. 

Please delete, dismiss and discontinue 
ZARNAK. 

My vote for the best story in the issue 
goes to “Conquest of Life.” Keep up the 
good work. Binder. I enjoyed “The Double 
Minds” by John W. Caihpbell, Jr. and I 
sincerely hope he writes many more Penton 
and Blake stories. 

I hope _T. W. S. can maintain the high 
standard it has set, for, in tny estimation, it 
is the best science fiction magazine that is 
being published; and, incidentally, the least 
experisive'.-^27 Greenwood Ave., San Mateo, 
Calif. ' 

COVER LIKED 

By Robert A. Madle 
Congratulations on the best issue of 

T. W. S. to date. The cover was very good; 
quite typical, of Wesso. Let’s have Wesso 
paint more covers for forthcoming issues of 
T. W. S. He is far ahead of the others, with 
the possible exception of Paul. The fictional 
content was up to the standard set by the 



previous issues; the best story being Binder’s 
“Conquest of Life.” It pleases me to note 
that Eando Binder is a regular contributor 
to your magazine. I also liked Gordon A. 
Giles’ “Vision of the Hydra.” It was very 
well written, and the idea voiced has its pos- 
sibilities. Campbell’s new series is very 
good, and having a Penton and Blake story 
in every issue would suit me swell. — 
333 E. Belgrade St., Philadelphia, Penna. 

ABOUT TELEPATHY 

By F. L. Sqlloway 

I was surprised to read your answer to 
B.D. of Boston, Mass., in the August de- 
partment for Science Questions and Answers. 
Telepathy has been fairly well substantiated 
by the recent investigations of Dr. J. B. 
Rhine, of Duke University. Is it possible 
that his work has escaped the attention of 
B.D.? Rhine’s book on “Extra-Sensory 
Perception,” published in 1935 by Bruce 
Humphries, should acquaint him consider- 
ably with this subject. ..“The Journal of Para- 
psychology,” a publication of the Duke Uni- 
versity Pxess^ the first number of which 
came out last March, also outlines many 
conclusive proofs. 

Telepathy is at present a definite object 
of study at a number of universities and col- 
leges. The results obtained by Dr. Rhine 
are too startling, and the statistics he has 
amassed are too overwhelming- to be lightly 
dismissed. 

B.D. will find an admirable outline of the 
recent progress made along these lines In 
“Harpers” magazine for November, 1936. As 
one who has been associated with Dr. Rhine 
and who has duplicated many of his results, 

1 feel distressed that B.D. has not seen some 
oj tliese publications. Telepathy is rapidly 
developing into an established branch of 
psychology, and I would be glad to corre- 
spond with anyone who is attracted by this 
subject. — R. F. D, 1, Branford, Conn. 

WANTS REALISTIC YARNS 

By Jerome Keejey 

Irregularly, since there was but one such 
publication on the market, I have been read- 
ing science fiction magazines. T. W. S. is 
by far the best Fve ever seen, especially , 
recently. 




THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



117 



A little while ago I made the acquaintance 
of your magazine while searching the news- 
stands for this type of fiction. On the spot 
your mag looked so well I bought it at once. 
I knew a good thing when I saw it. So 
much complete fiction, excellent features, 
depts.j etc., unnot be secured at any price. 

My vote is cast for stories with back- 
ground or local color in which the reader 
can identify himself. It’s up to your authors 
to keep the tone of their stories convincing 
and realistic. — North' Sutton, N. H. 

ZARNAK GOOD 

By Walter Walters 

After hearing what the rest of the T. W. S. 
fans have been saying about "Zarnak,” I 
decided to write a letter. I have been' read- 
ing your books since the first edition and 
find them Interesting and educational. Every 
time I read a story I drag out all the books 
I can find to supplement the information 
I’ve obtained. Your stories stimulate me to 
do so. “Zarnak” is very good, and I wish 
you’d tell Max Plalsted to keep up the good 
work. I find that T..W. S. is the best mag- 
azine on the market. You are improving 
more and more with every number. 

C. C. Wilhelm, one of your readers, lives 
in the same town I do end I see that we 
have the same ideas on stories. I wish he 
would write to me. 

“Conquest of Life,” by Eando Binder was 
the best story I have read in months. “The 
Iron World" was close behind. The August 
issue of T. W. S. was the best you have pro- 
duced to date.— 101 West Maple. Ave., Glen- 
dale, Calif. 

BRICKBATS 

By John Giunia 

Here’s my opinion of THRILLING 
WONDER STORIES. Your mag has Im- 
proved a lot, following its course from the 
first issue. Y our ' stories are very good, 
same for your authors. I was exceptionally 
leased to hear that Neil R. Jones and 
o^ W. Campbell, Jr., were some of the 
writers. Here are some of my suggestions: 
Why not have a serial now and then? How 
about having a book length novel every 
other issue? Also, enlarge the picture strip, 
“Zarnak.” 

Now cover your heads for the- brickbats. 
In nearly every issue of your magazine we 



have stories of cosmic doom, interplanetary 
doom, the end Of the Universe, Earth, etc. 
You get tired of that variety of story. 
Science magazines are not to write stories 
featuring death, etc.. The purpose of' the 
science fiction story should be to cover every 
field of science. Have your authors take 
note. — 1355 80th Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

T.W.S. O.K. 

By John V. Baltadonis 

All the yarns in the August issue are very 
good. However, two stories stand dut above 
the others. They are “The Double Minds” 
and. “Conquest of Life.” Another story that 
was pretty entertaining was Otis A. Kline’s 
“The Iron World.” 

Your science article, “Spaceward,” by 
P. E. Cleator, was very interesting. Let’s 
have more of the same type. — 1700 Frank- 
ford Avenue, Philadelphia, Penn. 

ORCHIDS AGAIN 

By Frank Skerbeck 

Do you know, I am really getting alarmed 
at the way THRILLING WONDER 
STORIES has been improving during the 
last year? It seems impossible that you 
can continue to improve. I shall be easily 
satisfied with it if you keep the magazine at 
the same fine level it is now maintaiding. 

Each one of Binder’s last three stories 
has been better than the last, which is say- 
ing something! And Campbell’s "The 
Double Minds'* was ^ual to "Conquest of 
Life .” , A science article like “Spaceward,” 
which was excellent, adds 25% to the mag- 
azine’s value. You can certainly be proud 
of putting out such an all star issue at such 
a low price. 

Some of the other stories that I liked in 
the last few issues were Williamson’s “The 
Ice Entity,” “The Astounding Exodus,” by 
Jones; “A Million Years Ahead,” by Hamil- 
ton, and “Vision of the Hydra,” by Giles. 
*rhere were, of course, many other stories 
of equal and nearly equal merit. I men- 
tioned the ones that impressed me the most. 

Had I written this letter a month or two 
earlier I would have had a good many 
criticisms and suggestions to offer. Now 
they all seem, superfluous. In closing, let 
me ask for foreign readers to correspond 
with me. I will answer all letters promptly. 
— Iron River, Wis. 



GOOD NEWS FOR PENTON AND BLAKE FANSD 



A 




IN@V(g8(gft6(g bv i] 






—IN THE NEXT ISSUE 





The SCIENCE 
FiaiON LEAGUE 

A department conducted for members of 
the international SCIENCE FICTION 
LEAGUE in the interest of science fiction 
and its promotion. We urge members to. 
contribute any items of interest that they 
believe will be of value to the. organization. 

© 



T his age has been defined by 
many names. But it is safe to 
say “The Age of Electricity” 
best conveys the impression it has 
created among all thinking people. 

The postage stamp is giving way to 
the telephone. For one -can now 
phone to practically every important 
civilized city in the world. 

MODERN WONDERS 

The crank on thp automobile bows 
in respect to a little button which you 
step on with' your left foot. A twist 
of a dial on the radio and listeners in 
San Francisco hear a speech being 
made in London. 

The wonders of the moving, talk- 
ing, and television pictures need no 
comment here. We have electric fans 
to cool us in summer, electrical heat 
to kf ep us warm in winter. We make 
ice, fry eggs, polish shoes, squeeze 
oranges, press our clothes and run 
many of our trains by electric power. 

THE AGE OF ELECTRICITY 

The candle taper has been gener- 
ally replaced by a switch. In many 
States we ev^n kill our murderers by 
electricity. . 

Yet, for every life we take with this 
mysterious fluid or force or substance 
— ^^for we do not even know what it is 
— ^thare are thousands of useful lives 
saved. 

For instance, the X-ray makes it 
possible to explore the deepest re- 
cesses of the body, and bring to light 



EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS 

FORREST J. ACKERMAN 
EANDO BINDER 
JACK DARROW 
EDMOND HAMILTON 
ARTHUR J. BURKS 
RAY CUMMINGS 
RALPH MILNE FARLEY 
WILLIS CONOVER, JR: 






the hidden menace of disease. The 
application of electricity in its vari- 
ous forms helps hedl tubercular lungs, 
removes deep-seated growths, and per- 
forms other miracles of healing. 

We can congratulate ourselves for 
living in an age which recognizes the 
wonders and comforts afforded by 
that marvelous, power— electricity. 

THE FUTURE 

To many people, some of these, 
achievements represent the summit of 
human progress; greater accomplish- 
ments are deemed impossible. But 
our contemporary science fiction writ- 
ers think otherwise. They look for- 
ward to the day when man will defy 
gravity, control the elements, conquer 
interplanetary space, harness the 
power of the sun, and utilize the tre- 
mendous energy of the atom. Such 
visions of the future may seem fantas- 
tic now ; but, as the years roll by, they 
will be transformed into reality, even 
118 



iBMBBoMMnCMOOUBBniBioaDaanei 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



119 



as Verne’s fancies of the submarine 
and airplane have been realized to- 
day! 

JOIN THE LEAGUE 

Join the SCIEINCE FICTION LEAGUE! It’s 
an organization of the world's most enthusi- 
astic followers of Imagrltiatlve Action — and it 
fosters an intangible bond between all science 
Action readers. 

Just All out the membership application 
blank provided on thls'page. There are active 
members and chapters in every part of the 
globe. 

To obtain a FREE certlAcato of member- 
ship, tear off the name-strip of the cover of 
this magazine, so that the date and the title 
of the magazine show, and send it to SCI- 
ENCE FICTION league, enclosing a 
stamped, self-addressed envelope. We will 
forward you. In addition to the certlAcate, 
further Information concerning LEAGUE ac- 
tivities. And readers — write the editor of 
THRILLING WONDER STORIES regularly, 
giving 8,11 your opinions and comments con- 
cerning this magazine! Your suggestions and 
criticisms are welcome! Keep them coming! 



THE SOENCE FICTION LEAGUE 

— a department conducted for members of the 
International Science Fiction League In the 
Interest of science, science Action and Its 
promotion. We urge members to contribute 
any items of Interest that they believe will be 
of value to the organlzatidn. 

There are thousands of members in the 
League with about forty chapters In this 
country and abroad, and more than that 
number in the making all over the world. 



-jUiDaeDaoBoadaBaaBasaBaaaaaaeoaBaaaaaaDaaaaoaaQaoBaaBaDfleoaag 




SCIENCE FICTION LEAGUE 



I Science Fiction League, S 

I 22 W. 48th St„ New York, N. Y. | 

n .a 

U *j o 

□ 1 wish to apply for membership m S 

I' the SCIENCE FICTION LEAGUE. B 
3 I pledge myself to abide by all rules | 
I and regulations. | 

O 
a 

Name ,.... I 

(Print Legibly) I 

a 
o 

Address | 



City S 

I 

State Age § 

B 
O 

g 

Occupation Hobby | 

o 
a 

I am enclosing a stamped, self-ad- | 
I dressed envelope and the name-strip | 
• from the cover of this magazine (tear | 
i off name-strip so that the name 8 
I THRILLING WONDER STORIES i 
g and the date can be seen). You will g 
I send me my membership certificate 8' 
I and a list of rules, promptly. 8 

I 10-37 'I 

o a 

a g 

llBQliaB a □ a B OD OD a D B O a D tUglTB D B a Q OOOO 0 O O OB bSOBDflO O OD B BOQBQD D ODa 



FOREIGN CHAPTERS 

Leeds Science Fiction League (Chapter No. 
17). Director, Douglas W. F. Mayer, 20 Hol- 
lin Park Rd„ Roundhay, Leeds 8, Yorkshire, 
England. 

Belfast Science Fiction League (Chapter 
No. 20). Director, Hugh C. Carswell, 6 Selina 
St., Belfast, Northern Ireland. 

Nuneaton Science Fiction League (Chapter 
No. 22). Director M. K. Hanson, % Mrs. 
Brice, Main Road, Narborough, Leicestershire, 
England. 

Sydney Science Fiction League (Chapter No. 
27). Director, W. J. J. Osland, 26 Union Street, 
Paddington, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia. 

CJlasgow Science Fiction League (Chapter 
No. 34). Director, Donald Q. MacRae, 36 Mo- 
ray PI., Glasgow, Scotland. 

Barnsley Science Fiction League (Chapter 
No. 37). Director, Jack Beaumont, SO Ponte- 
fract Road, Barnsley, Yorkshire, England. 

OTHER CHAPTERS 

There are other domestic Chapters of the 
LEAGUE, fully organized with regular meet- 
ings, in the following cHles. Addresses will 
be furnished upon request by Headquarters to 
members who would like to join some local 
branch. Chapters are listed chronologically 
according to Charter: 

Lewiston, Ida.; Erie, Pa.; Los Angeles, Cal- 
if.; Monticello, N. Y.; Mayfield, Pa.; Lebanon, 
Pa.; Jersey City, N. J.; Lincoln, Nebraska; 
New York, N. Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Oakland, 
Calif.; Elizabeth, N. J.; Chicago, 111.; Tacoma, 
Wash.; Austin, Tex.; Mlllhelm, Pa.; Blooming- 
ton, 111.; Newark, N. J.; Stamford, Conn.; Den- 
ver, Colo; Lakeport, Calif.; Ridgewood, N. Y. ; 
Woodmere, N. Y. ; Beckley, W. Va.; Tuckahoe, 
N. Y.; South Amboy, N. J.; Pierre, S- Dak.; 
Albany, N. Y.; Boonton, N. J. and Flushing, 
N. Y. 

YONKERS SCIENCE FICTION LEAGUE 

O. Davidson announces the formation of 
the YONKERS SCIENCE FICTION LEAGUE, 
a new chapter of the SCIENCE FICTION 
.league. Other charter executive members 
are Laurence Picard and Raymond Myron 
Qlueck. All readers of THRILLING WON- 
DER STORIES residing In Yonkers or nearby 
are urged to get In touch with Mr. GluecH, the 
secretary, at 1 Post Street, Yonkers, New 
York. 

CHAPTER NEWS AND GENERAL ACTIVI- 
TIES — LOS ANGELES 

Past 6 months meetings have pyramided In 
popularity. Ever since Xmas, at which time 
was e:y)erlenced sclentlAcelebratlon which 
went off with a bang. A 4 hr. s-f festival at- 
tended by 21. Seen were scientifantasy Alme- 
mentos from Metropolis. Frankenstein, High 
Treason, Mummy, FPl, King Kong. Lost 
Souls' Isle, Deluge, Invisible Man, Vanishing 
Shadow, Invisible Ray, Undersea Kingdom, 
Flash Gordon, Things to Come. . . Also 
snaps: s-f fans & authors;' kodax: solar 

eclipse, experimental rockets, clay model 
Martian; etc. & exhibited: bound stf excerpts 
from early Science & Inventions ("Man from 
Atom, Around Universe, Metal Emperor." 
etc.), 'Argosy arns "Blind Spot" “Radio” aeries, 
etc.; stf items frorh Eng. fan mags. 

Regular business brought resignation Di- 
rector Hofford due inability to continue com- 
ing, unanimous election Treas. Russ Hodg- 
kins to companion position Dir. Desirability 
guest book tor visitors’ signatures discussed. 
' Guests at gala Yuletide gathering Included 
AJden L., League member brother 1st- Class 
member Forrest J. Ackerman, & Exec. Ack’s 
mother and father, from Frisco; Dave Stola- 
roff, Nex Mex. ; Baron Karl Edward Forst von 
Luetz of Bev’y Hills, Esperantist & now 
Chapter Sec’y; Locodo — engaged In translat- 
ing latest revolutionary reports from Prof. 
Szekely, Cluj College, Romania, whom regu- 
lar readers these columns will recall for nls 

(Continued on Page 124) 



M ore than a decade ago Ray Cummings 
created one of fantasy fiction’s most 
famous personalities — blundering, portly 
"Tubby,” scientific experimenter. Since that 
time the amazing adventures of that likeable 
character have become classical. "Tubby” 
stories have been prominently featured in 
more than a dozen national magazines; in 
each case they have immediately won un- 
usual popularity. 

Tubby has circled the Universe, probed 
the cosmos and explored many strange 
dimensions in the more than two-score epi- 
sodes of his career. But certain of Tubby’s 
colorful exploits have yet to be chronicled 
for posterity. We assigned the job of re- 
porting these accounts to versatile Author 
Cummings. THE SPACE-TIME-SIZE 
MACHINE, in this issue, inaugurates, the 
new Tubby series, to appear exclusively in 
THRILLING WONDER STORIES. How 
Cummings’ initial Tubby yarn . landed in 
print makes amusing reading, and is a story 
in itself. Listen to the author: 

THE RETURN OF TUBBY 

Tour rea<Jei -8 seem interested in having the 
author comment upon hie story; and in con- 
nection with THE SPACE-TIME-SIZE MA- 
CHINE I have a few words to say. 

It is my first revival after many years, of 
two characters — Tubby and Sir Isaac New- 
top Wells Verne. They made their initial bow 
In the second story . I ever wrote. I had sold 
"The Girl in the Golden Atom” to the Frank 
A. Munsey Company — and In a burst of youth- 
ful enthusiasm, I created Tubby and Sir 
Isaac. The stony was, I recall, "The Man 
Who Discovered Nothing." 

I took it to the Munsey editor — the famous 
Bob Davis. When he had read It, he semt for 
me. I found him frowning at me across his 
desk, with the manuscript between us. 

“Do you know what you have done In this 
story?" he demanded. , 

“What have I done?” I stammered. 

"You’ve burlesqued your own talents. 
You’ve taken the “Girl in the Golden Atom’ 
arid torn It to shreds." He tossed the manu- 
script at me. 

“Then you’re not going to buy this one?” 
I suggested. 

"Buy it? Do you think I’m crazy? It be- 
longs in the wastebasket.” 

That hurt my feelings. With great dignity 
I gathered it up and put it in my leather 
brief case. 1 was a novice author then; I had 
a very handsome brief case in which to carry 
my precious manuscripts. 

“Aren’t you going to burn that story?” Bob 
Davis demanded — or words to that effect. 

“I’m going to sell It to some other editor,”- 
I declared. 

He grinned and reached for it. "All right,” 
he said. "Hand it over. I can stand it, if you 
can. But it’s terrible.” 

He published it and a string of others to 
follow. And so I thought that the readers of 
THRILLING WONDER STORIES might be 
interested ii\ a revival. Sir Isaac, I think, is 
a fair personification not only of all authors 
of science fiction, but of your readers as well. 
And that makes him a very learned personage 
indeed. Don’t you think so? 



THE FIRELESS WORLD 

H ave you ever thought what life would 
be Hke on a planet where fire was 
mechanically impossible? Just how would 
a progressive civilization surmount such an 
obstacle? Penton and Blake, our dauntless 
space-rovers, blunder into this problem in 
THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS, a new 
novelette by JOHN W. CAMPBELL, Jr. 
Their latest little jaunt takes place on 
Jupiter’s satellite, CallistOi and the experi- 
ences of these two Earth-exiles on that 
world make interesting reading. But first, 
a letter from Mr. Campbell to explain his 
theme more fully: 

The story THE IMMORTALITY SEEKERS 
rose, as I suggested, in connection with the 
previous story THE DOUBLE-MINDS, from 
the considerations of what problems would 
face an intelligent race on a wofld where fire 
was, for some quite-possible reason, impos- 
sible. How, under such circumstances, would 
man, for instance, have developed? Metals 
would have become available only with the 
development of a very high order of cfviliza- 
tion. Orily within the last 90 years or so. 
would Man have known metals other than 
silver, gold, platinum and others which occur 
uncombin-.t: in nature; 

The possibilities of using life-cells I have 
suggested; a full development of the theme 
might well occupy a 50,000 word novel. That 
utilization of life-cells would be almost the. 
only practicable industrial manipulations 
available to them, I think can be shown 
fairly definitely. "That such extreme manip- 
ulations as I suggest are possible, though 
not yet accomplished on Earth, I maintafn. 
So far as the electric power plant goes, con- 
sider this; since water is a conductor of elec- 
tricity, and when a voltage greater than, 
about 3 is applied, it breaks to hydrogen and 
oxygen. It seems evident that no electric cell, 
using one solution, wet by one mass :of water, 
can develop more than 3 volts. If it devel- 
oped more, the water .would short-circuit It 
internally, wasting its power. 

This has been a fairly gener.ally accepted 
limit. But — an electric eel, with one blood- 
stream, in one continuous body-solution, de- 
velops 900 volts or more! Nobody yet knows 
how it can possibly be done, but the animal 
does It just the same. 

“Pipeline,” based on a body-chemistry of 
boron. Is not Impossible, or wildly improba- 
ble. and illustrates another point where our 
knowledge of chemistry is very, .very faulty. 
By all that’s good and holy in chemistry, 
boron has a Valence of three, that is, can> 
combine with only three hydrogen atoms at 
a time to form BH 3 for instance. Or it should 
combine with two liydrogens, another boron 
atom similarly combined linked to it being 
the third valence, thus: 



B — B while four-valent carbon forms; 
H H 

H H 

HC — CH. But, boron actually forms a com- 
H H 

pound showing, apparently, four valences. 



thus HB — ^BH. Just how it does this is still 
H H 



120 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



121 



something of a mystery, but that It does Is 
known. Thus, there are only three known 
elements that have the paoperty of combin- 
ing with other atoms of the same element 
Into oomplex swostaneea; Carbon, on which 
all known life Is based, &licon, very similar, 
but heavier than carbon, and Boron, lighter 
than carbon, and somewhat more active. 

ATOMIC LIFE 

W HEN THE EARTH LIVED by 
HENRY KUTTNER deals with a 
pseudo-scientific theme that is daring — ^d 
different. The possibility of other sentient 
atomic worlds than our own has been sug- 
gested by some of our greatest scientists. 
Such an initial pranise serves as the struc- 
ture for a top-notch science fiction yarn. 
Here’s how Mr. Kuttner conceived the idea 
for his story: 

WHEN THE EARTH UVED grew out of 
nothing. I was at my typewriter staring 
vaguely Into space, casting about for an idea 
— something which hadn't been done before 
In science-fiction— ^and having little success. 
There didn't seem to be much left to write 
about any more. 

Then I looked at the bookcase. A faint 
glimmer of an Idea came to me. Suppose — 
Just suppose — that bookcase suddenly came 
to life I Sheer, Incredible fantasy, but that's 
the Way stories are born. 

The rest was comparatively easy. What 
could bring life tO' a bookcase? The thing 
wasn’t homogenous; there was wood and 
metal and leather and Ink making up the 
whole— but every part of the bookcase and Its 
contents had one thing in common; atoms. 

But how can atoms live? Well, after all, 
what Is life? Nobody really knows. 'The 'fil- 
terable virus Is on the borderline between the 
living and the non-living. And If life can 
come to a liquid, why not to a solid — or an 
atom? Nobody knows what electricity is, for 
that matter. I followed the analogy; elec- 
tricity can be carried through conductors; 
similarly, life Itself (granting the basic pseu- 
do-sclentlflc premise of temporarily believing 
In an unproved theory) can energize materi- 
als which ordinarily do not live. And I must 
admit that the Idea seemed to me a fascinat- 
ing one; my Imag^ation was piqued by the 
tremendous possibuitles of such a theme; The 
story Is fantastic, yes — but the basic theory, 
I contend, is by no means an unscientific one, 
nor can it be disproved. And, anyway, I had 
a lot of fun writing the tale. 

I’d like to say, too, that the Los Angeles 
Chapter of the Science Fiction League — most 
of whose members know more about science 
than I do — was really responsible for the 
growth of the yarn, as the interest evidenced 
by the gang gave me sufficient enthusiasm to 
write it. 

THE RIDDLE OF RELATIVITY 

A SPACE-TRAVELER vanishes in a 
mysterious ether-eddy of the Universe 
only to reappear years later — physieally un- 
changed! That’s only the start of CAVERN 
OF THE SHINING POOL, a gripping 
novelette of the strange forces existent in 
the Cosmos. ARTHUR L. ZAGAT is the 
author, and to us this seems his best tale 
to date. We hope you think so too. And 
now let Zagat tell you why authors enjoy 
writing science fiction: 

There Is a peculiar satisfaction In writing 
scientific fiction. It stems. I believe, from the 
fact that in this field, more than in any other 
the author can cloak with the ’garments or 
(Continued! am IPage i2Z) 



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(Continued from Rage IZl) 

his imagination the Intangible, ethereal spee- 
ulationa upon the nature of philosophical re- 
lations that otherwise must remain In the 
realm of the metaphysical. 

CAVERN OF THE SHINING POOL. Is a 
case in point. While the adventurers of Jay 
and Gurd Sllton are exciting enough, it was 
not their hazards and the way they met and 
overcame them that Intrigued me, not the 
strange turtle creatures of that other space 
that spine-thrilled me In their creation, but 
th'e shattering of ancient, ingrained concepts 
of now and then, of up and down, of here and 
there, that were an Inevitable concomitant of 
those adventures and those hazards. 

There is, across the heavens, a “vague in- 
tangible veil” beyond which lies — almost any- 
thing. There is, across man’s knowledge, a 
“vague Intangible veil” beyond which lies — 
nimost anything. Cold, soulless mathematical 
formulae lead us to conclusions more wildly 
romantic, more incredibly esoteric, than the 
dreams of Scheherezade, than the Imageries 
of Poe. What is the ultimate truth? What 
is the ultimate reality? Is Einstein a mathe- 
matician or a poet? Is Eddington a physicist 
or a dreamer? Look you, it by mere motion 
up can become down, down up, today tomor- 
row and tomorrow yesterday, what assurance 
have I that you exist at all? How do I know 
that there is anything at all but me? 

I know I exist. Descartes said it (or some 
figment of ray Imagination I chose to call 
‘‘Descartes"). Coglto. ergo snml 

ASTRONOMY'S WONDER 

T here is no celestial body more thrill- 
ing to behold, more faseinating than a 
comet. The intriguing story of the destinies 
a comet may have influenced provides the 
theme for EANDO BINDER’S newest 
novelette, A COMET PASSES: ^ 

We smug humans sometimes fail to take 
into account the shaping of our destinies, 
personal and collective, by Nature at large. 
On the small scale we have the emotions and 
instinots molding much of our life. On a large 
scale we have floods, earthquakes and over- 
population to Interrupt the plans of masses 
of people. Natural phenomena In their mani- 
fold forms twine themselves most intimately; 
with human affairs. 

The visitation of a comet, though now rele- 
gated by science’s cold reasoning as only a 
mere spectacle, was in former times a power- 
ful mental agent. It was from the unknown, 
and as such could play a disproportionate 
part in the superstition-ridden past. Only 
the sun outrivals a oometary display, but the 
latter has overtones of weirdness and terror. 

^me time ago, in reading a one-volume 
history of the wo^d. It struck me that comets 
were mentioned rather frequently. It seems 
that many of the ancient and especially Mid- 
dle Ages’ writers linked comet apparitions 
with plagues, wars and changes. In 'a sense, 
those writers were right, not knowing it 
themselves. They spoke of the comet causing 
these events in a physical or psychical way, 
when It could really only be in a purely psy- 
chological way. 

We have no absolute records of Important 
human decisions swayed by comet appear- 
ances. It may be Just a remarkable coinci- 
dence that the Normans invaded England in 
1066 when the brilliant Halley’s comet made 
Us periodical rounds. And all other ^such 
confluxes of comets and human events may 
be coincidence. But it is interesting to sup- 
pose that chains of happenings were forged in 
a cometary flame. 

Out of' more or less fanciful day-dreaming 
of this sort popped A COMET PASSES — ■ 
a tale of what might be several out of a thou- 
sand or million similar incidents in Earth's 
misted past. We today gaze upon a comet — 
if wo are lucky enough to have one In our 
lifetime — and realize why aetronoiners call it 




123 



THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



the most magnifleent sight In the Universe. 
Our ancestors were lost to the beauty of the 
spectacle because of the mystery. There is 
no mystery to Halley’s comet now, except how 
many human affairs it has upset in its scores 
of previous visitations. ' 

"WHIZ-BANGS" OF VENUS 

R emember the “whiz-bangs** of Venus, 
as detailed in ARTHUR K. BARNES* 
recent story, GREEN HELL? They*re in 
arain, this time in a novelette of inter-' 
planetary exploration. Here*s what Mr. 
Barnes has to say regarding the genesis of 
his stories of Venusian flora and fauna: 

THE HOTHOUSE PLANET is an extension 
of the short story of mine that appeared in 
the April Issue — GREEN HELL — with further 
of your humble contributor’s deductions in 
regard to probabilities of life forms on the 
planet Venus, with particular stress on the 
animal life rather than flora. The portrayal 
of human behavior and character change, 
when caught in the flux of these strange 
conditions and outr4 creatures, lends the 
story substance of a sort, I feel. 

As in the past, I have tried not to invent 
things that are too far removed from life as 
we know it on this Earth. The weird “whip," 
for instance, has its Earthly counterpart not 
only in the ant-eater, but in the sphinx-moth, 
which sports a hoselike tongue a good deal 
longer than its own body. Cousins to the 
“Venusian buzzard” can be found under any 
microscope In the biology lab. While the 
Murrl, of course, finds Its obvious image in 
the Proboscis Monkey ... I do this because 
I feel that if a reader has some basis of com- 
parison, when reading about alien life forms, 
he will be able to visualize the story more 
clearly and perhaps give himself an added 
measure of enjoyment and appreciation. 

And now credit where credit is due. Arthur 
J. Burks may think he’s pretty slick in con- 
tacting the local chapter of the Science Fic- 
tion League and pumping them for story ma- 
terial, but he’s not the only wise guy in this 
man’s town! I tried it myself, and believe 
me. . everything he says about those fellows 
is true. We nad quite a bull session one 
night at the home of Roy Test, clarifying my* 
ideas and arguing new ones. Special mention 
of A1 Mussen Is only justice, as he was re- 
sponsible for calling my attention to the ex- 
istence, In experimentaJ form, of the elec- 
tronic telescope used in the yarn. 

So THE HOraoUSE PLANET is the result 
of rather diversified influences. I hope some 
of the readers may find in it a few minutes 
relaxation and entertainment. And after all, 
what more satisfaction than that can a lowly 
scrivener wish for? 



GUIDE TO 'SCIENCE KNOW- 
LEDGE ANSWERS 

(See Page 37) 

1 — .page 16 in The Hothouse Planet* 

2 — ‘Page 34 in The SP 9 ce-Tlme-Slze Machine* 

3 — page 55 in The Immortality Seekers. 

4 — Page 71 in Cavern of the Shining Pool. 

5 — Pag'e 81 in Via Etherline. 

6 — Page 103 in A Comet Passes. 

7 — Page 104 in A Comet Passes. 

8 — Page 111 in A. Comet Passes. 

9 — Page 94 in When the EJarth Lived. 



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THE SCIENCE FICTIOtiJ LEAGUE 

(Contlnned from Page IIB) ^ 

Baster Isle expedition and discoveries, and 
utilization UniveraalangTiage (To mo r o’ s 
Tongue: Elsperanto) during group’s world- 
round scientific search of mapsod life. Also 
her writer-artist son Mel from Perris, Cal.; 
Morogo, Sehretarllno de I’Blspemiiti^Klubo de 
Irf^Angheleso — skyrooketeer in Bsperantio 
endeavor, longtime lover stf & now linked 
up with League — with her young son Vodoso, 
and nephew. Bob Olsen entertained with "4 
Llmenslonal Magic.” After his teasing Tesser 
Aot prophetic presents were Interchanged. 
Benefactor Bob, friend of fans,- distributed 
gratis copies rare WONDERS and companion 
AIR WONDER. Exciting s-f raffles ensued 
rounding off epic eve. . 

At 1st New Year meeting our talented Pub- 
licity Director J. Barr inquired as to mem- 
bers’ preference concerning sort song desired 
for Chapter Anthem which he volunteered to 
create — i.e. march tempo, manner moderne, 
or what. Pop consensus opinion centered on 
collegiate style chorus as most appropriate. 

At 2d Jan. sclentiflcircle ’^they laugh when 
he sat down to" irritate ye ivories but, un- 
daunted, Exec. Ack executed (Who exclaimed 
“and how!”?) such songs suggesting s-f as 

"Stardust” and. "Moonglow, Dancing on 

Oeiling” (gravity nulllfled), “House’s Haunt- 
ed” (dead-icated “weird for weird” , to fan- 
tasy flank: author-member Henry Kuttner, 
and artist-member James Mooney, Jr.) At 
preceding meeting members’d agreed J. Barr 
was "taps” when he sorta "shuffled off to Sat- 
urn.” Now we hear from “Honk” (Henry 
K.) that “Bobby” Bloch (who writes fantasy 
Action) is coming out to S. Rarloffornia this 
summer and proposes to put on imaginative 
Minstrel show with co-op Chapter's chaps. 
Pseudo-science chain classic was commenced, 
each member adding couple paragraphs to 
tipsy tale which as -yet has no title nor con- 
clusion (nor comprehensible content!). 

Specialty collectors in Club bring rarities 
to pass around for lookaee. Foreign scientl- 
fantasayarns — French, German, Russian, 
Snanisb, Esperantlc. Original mss. (“Arda-' 
thia Machine Maji,” “Munan Golden Girl,” 
"Futility,” “2000 Miles Below,” "Valeron,’* 
“Skylark,” and others). Several scrapbooks 
featuring Ist-hand multicolored menagerie 
men, monsterA machines, etc., from 100 
real & imaginary places: planets, future time, 
4th dimension, center Earth, Atlantis, atom, 
aso. "Mystery Solid Dimension Minus.” 

“JekyU - Hyde,” “Frankenstein,” “White 
Zombie,” “Berkeley Square,’’ "King Kong,” 
“Invisible Man” and number other imagina- 
tive movies’ve been revived in Great K A. 

Special session at EsperanTest’s to meet 
Arthur K. Barnes, author “Green Hell” T.W.S. 
for June. Acquaintance also renewed at time 
with Wanda Test, former Seo’y our Chapt 
who' once previously provided party with spe- 
cial cake lolng-lnscribed “Long Live SFLi”. 
Opening pages Barnes' Venustory were read 
aloud while yet In mss. form and ideas ad- 
vanced by Interested attenders as to possible 
flora-fauna forms on Eve Star. Esperan- 
'Test’s scientifioollection was seen. Scienti- 
fahtasy Cinemauthorlty Ackerman audibly 
synopsized soientiflKarloffllm "Man Who 
Lived Again.” - 

Another extra meeting — at Mussen’s — where 
our gradually growingilihrary was inspected. 
Most recent addition: Weinbaumeniorial ap- 
preciatively accepted from Comrade Kuttner. 
Eleotriourioslties -in L. Mussen’s brother's lab 
were viewed. New Chapt. Constitution con- 
sidered. 

2 speakers’ve been T. ..Atlantis Sudbury, 
horologist secured by Sophia van Doorne tell- 
ing time-measurement’s history, and Mr. Fee- 
ley of LAJC, back by popular request and 
A1 Mussen’s Influence discussing “Interplan- 
etary Conquest’s Dawn.” Members were In- 
vited by Speaker Sudbury to attend coming 
chronometric convention, doings of which 
Exec. Ackerman described at following 
(Continued on Page 126) 






THRILLING WONDER STORIES 



125 



!i®@dl-=-€Siiliing 

St®Epl©S @f 



Hideous T@rr@r 

and 



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Address 



(Continued -from Page 124) 

League meeting. 

One of most extraordinary eves to date, 
was held when Exec. Dir. and famous scion- 
tifantasy author Arthur J. Burks, FP (Fic- 
tion Factory) recently was in our midst as 
Honored Guest Speaker. The 24 there were 
delighted by Art’s informality, fascinated by 
his amaaing anecdotal ability, and unani- 
mously voted, him Honor Member our Chapt. 
He pictured to us such s-f celebs he’s met 
personally as Mort Weisinger and ’’Fan- 
tasy’s" ■ Schwartz, aces Cummings & Ernst, 
etc.; told tales in connection creation his 
chapter of the interplanetaryarn, "Cosmos,” 
and ’’Earth, the Maurauder"; related uncom- 
mon occurrences of which everyday objects 
round room reminded him, etc. It was an en- 
grossing address, entertaining, informative. 

Eve 1 Apr. saw scientifoolish fracas in SFLi 
Chapt. 4. 8 pt program planned by “Whacky-, 
Aeky"' Included delivery series scientiflerax 
adapted to those attending: strip-tease ' (er, 
■’take-ofT’) on old WONDER’S Science Fiction 
Test altered to “SF Jest,” slandering S. F. 
League (il-League-ally?) as ’’SFPlague”! Its 
adherents calumniated as ’’Science Affiiction- 
ist" fans of “pathetic” (profetio) Action! etc. 

Rarity raffles (1st SCCiOPS, etc.)'; soientiA- 
oontest with cash prizes; reading by Author 
Olsen In Person: his pixilated poem "My Mar- 
tian Sweetheart” from “SF’s 1st Fan Mag” 
"Time Traveler.” 

Meetings are 1st & 3d Timrs. every month 
In "Little Brown Room,” Clifton Caf, 648 S. 
B’way, .downtown LA. Approx '5 p.m. til 10. 
No invite necessary so local guys and gals 
come on and get associated with our group — 
meet your neighboring future-minded pals. 
(Free refreshments!). 

THE GREATER NEW YORK CHAPTER OF 
THE SCIENCE FICTION .LEAGUE 

The Greater New. York Chapter has con- 
cluded its Arst year of existence with some- 
thing of a bang. Its organ, "The Cosmic 
Call,” will see print -by the middle of July; 
the membership of the- Branch has doubled 
since its inception; and a permanent head- 
quarters .has been secured for next season. 

Meetings have been suspended for the sum- ' 
mer, but will be resumed sometime in Sep- 
tember. Prospective members will please 
communicate with Frederik Pohl, Director, 
677 Lincoln Place, Brooklyn. New York. 

NEW MEMBERS 
UNITED STATES 

Jack McLaughlin, 2822 E. Superior Street, 
Duluth, Minnesota; Ted Simpson, 123' Carter 
Lake Club, Omaha, Nebraska: J. J. Schiffman, 
683 Morton Street, Boston, Massaefiusetts ; 
Francis Donahue, 339 Centre Street, Ashland, 
Pennsylvania; P. T. Pitty, Box 311, Ada, Okla- 
homa; William H. Fullet, 2216 Hawthorne 
Street, Swissvale, Pennsylvania: Herbert 

Mednick, 6442 Montgomery Avenue. Phila- 
delphia. Pennsylvania; Milton Miller,. 1154 
President Street, Brooklyn, New York; Frank 
Davis, Rt. 1, Box ,625, Raleigh, Tennessee; 
Dexter Hammond, 174 Broadway, Boston, 
Massachusetts; Donald Miller, 311 Hamilton 
Street, Kenmore, New York; Baldwin ’^oth, 
223 Dayton Avenue. Clifton, New Jersey; 
Francis Lltz, 365 Brown Street, Rochester, 
New' York; Norman O’Connor, 125 Barre 
Street, Montpelier, Vermont; Wayne Power, 
Hermlston, Oregon; Louis Gladstone, 2434 
Jackson' Street, San Francisco, California: 
Donn Turner, 440 N. W. Francis, Wichita, 
Kansas; Robert Lanning, Box 505, Logan, 
Ohio; Bruce Blake, 507 North Street,- Nacbg- 
doches, Texas; William Bakker, Westbrook, 
Minnesota': Peter Poulos, 1011 — 9th Street, N. 
W., Washington, D. C.; Thomas Mall, 2216 
Vine Street, Cincinnati, Ohio; W. P. Rawlin- 
son, 1626 Pierce Avenue, Houston, Texas; Ed- 
ward 'Torriale, 3437 St. Charles. New Orleans, 
Louisiana; Walter Faust, 1720 Seventh StreeC 
New Orleans, Louisiana; Robert Kiteley, 837 



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Collyer Street. Longrnont, Colorado; Elaine 
Brown, 6010 ^uth 37th Street, Omaha, Ne- 
braska; Walter Karch, 220 Cedar Street, Syra- 
cuse, New York; Melvin Barron, 4122 f>ille 
Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio; E. Strauss, 1827 Bur- 
nett Street. Brooklyn, New York; W. A. Marck, 
34 Rpnisey Rd., Southampton, England; Rob- 
ert Wharton, 109 Morningside Rd., Verona, 
New Jersey; R. M. Brewer, Box 264, Walnut 
Ridge, Arkansas; Arthur Silverstadt, 1060 
Union Street, Brooklyn, New York. 

M. Wolf, 691 East 140th' Street New York 
City, New York; Richard Ogden, . Jr. 3B2 East 
139th Street New York City. New York; Bill 
Losh, 151 Sycamore, San Mateo, California; 
Stanley Kolodzie, 209 Yantle Street Norwich, 
Connecticut! Charles R. Ziegler, 388 — 19th 
Street Brooklyn, New York; Ernest Sharp, 
8247 Winser, Detroit, Michigan; Charles A. 
Wilkins, Jr., 28 Collier Rd., Atlanta, Georgia; 
Clai-ence Lasater, 133 Hunt Street, Durham, 
North Carolina; B. Reagan;' 10th Ordnance 
Co., Langley Field, Virginia; M. E. Packman, 
Jr., 506 Napoleon Street, Valparaiso, Indiana; 
Adrian F. Nader, 116 N. Wittenberg, Spring- 
field, Ohio; Nicholas Krikes; 524 Santa Clara 
Street Fillmore, California; Gerald M. Loe, 
Box 92, Blanchardville, Wisconsin; Abraham 
Oshlasky,. 117 Van EUren Street Brooklyn, 
New York; Charles Wilkos, -1647 N. Talman 
Avenue, Chicago; Illinois; Jerome Keeley, Box 
25, Merion Station, Pennsylvania; J. Fergu- 
son Stewart 362 Labadie Street Montreal, 
Canada; Leroy Harsher, 1212 W. Cold Spring 
Lake, Baltimore, Maryland; George T. Brani 
ski, 1505 So. 70tn Street W. Allis; WisconMn; 
Alan Gold,. 1170 E. Sth St., Brooklyn, New 
York; Chas. Niceolls, Box 775, Pecos, Texas. 

George IngRs, T25 Marlon Street, St. Louis, 
Missouri; W^. B. Woodingtdn, 1555 Pratt 
Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; R. Arco- 
lese, 3208 Boulevard, Jersey City. New Jer- 
sey; Mike Sato, 2829 N. Abbott Ct., Chicago, 
Illinois; Vernon Crist, 1005 W. Barre Street, 
Baltimore, Maryland; George WlnesdoerflCer, 
63G, Nat*] Rd, Wheeling, West Virginia; Rob- 
ert Thompson, 140-30 Sapford Avenue, Flush- 
ing, New York- Elden Janke, 1108 Grove 
Street. Topeka. Kansas; Sam Hoffman, 1653 
Gladstone, Detroit, Michigan; , Benny Cohen, 
19 Rutgers Place. New York City, New York; 
Lester W. Smith, 1405 S. W. Washington, 
Portland, Oregon; Bernard W. Quinn, 2567 
Tulip Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; W. 
Garber Higginbotham, Box 23, Betheada, 
Ohio; Carl R. Seward, Appleton City, Mis- 
souri; M. RuUn, 350 Penn. Avenue, Brooklyn, 
New York- Alex Osheroff, 478 — IMh Avenue, 
Newark. New Jersey; Jesse J. Mayer, 400 
East 29th Street, New York City; Roy P. 
Relsch, 138 Union Street, Mlllersburg, Penn- 
sylvania: John Giunta, 1365 — 80th Street, 
Brooklyn, New York; Alan Brown, 2549 N. 
Monitor Avenue, Chicago, Illinois: Kenneth 
Jones, 1916 N. W. 40th, Oklahoma City, Okla- 
homa; James Sullivan, 882 Springfield Ave-. 
nu^Suromit, New Jersey; Billy Rosa, 1133 
S, W. 23rd Avenue, Miami, Florida; Bernard 
Crowe, 1223 3rd Street, Portsmouth, Ohio; 
Royoe M. Ingle, 1219 Evelyn Avenue, Berkeley, 
California; Charles Scholl, Box 442, Coytes- 
vllle. New Jersey. 

NEW MEMBERS 

[FORglSN 

John C. H. Drummond, 39 Jeffreys Street, 
Camden Town, London, N. W. 1, Middlesex, 
England; Wm. Gonchar, 121 Wlshark So., 
Glasgow, Scotland; Robert Willis, 112 Met- 
calfe Street, St. Thomas, Ontario; H. Shuttle- 
worth, 206 Altrlnchlm Road, Sharston, Man- 
chester. England; Chas. H. Roberts, 13 Des- 
pard Road, London, England": Edgar G. Duck- 
er, 11, Birdwood Rd., Liverpool, England: 
George Smith, 1880 Favard Street, Montreal, 
Quebec, Canada; Tr L. Gardinl, 10 West.bourne 
Terrace W. 2, IsDndon, England; "Robert Car- 
ley. Esg., 119 Boundary Rbad, London, E. 17, 
England; Andres Garcia Tramount, Industria 
No. 33, Altos. Habana, Cuba; Alex Englander, 
Public Works Dept. P. O. B. 502, Haifa, Pal- 
estine. 




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127 





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THE “SWAP” COLUMN 



Have violin with stand, music lessons, pho- 
nograph with fine records, swell books and 
magazines for cameras, movie cameras and 
projectors. Alex Chanln, 1451 Crotona Place, 
Brohx, New Torkl 



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Have crystal and battery’ radios, oil, paint- 
ings, butterflies, secrets of fire eating, sword 
swallowing. Want field glasses. John 
Haynes,, Doe Run, Mo. 



Toy typewriter, using regular ribbon, elec- 
tric train. Swap for telescope, microscope or 
anything of equal value. No stamps.. Billy 
Weaver, DaBelle, Florida. 



Will swap picture post cards with anyone 
anywhere. Bend name, etc. Positive returns. 
Israel Marks, 837 Albany Street, Schenectady, 
New York. 



Will exchange staihps, single sta.mps, large 
and small packets, for radio equipment- 
transmitters, receivers, etc. Robert P. Meade, 
619 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City, Mo. 



ru swap four foreign stAmps for every 
United States stamp you send that I can use, 
Alex Osherofe, 478-18th Avenue, Newark, New 
Jersey.’ 

Have books, postmarks, view cards, stamps. 
Want stamps and coins. 250 different stamps 
for large cent, or two cent piece. Write to 
Elbert Rhoades,. Hays, N. C. 



Many good stamps, foreign and United 
States to trade for United States or foreign 
coins.. Send me your coins and I will send 
you their equal value In stamps. Send your 
lists first. J. Kruger, 1270 Pacific Street, 
Brooklyn, N. T. 

Who wants — field glasses, miniature camera, 
mandolin, saxophone, violim microscope, etc. 
Write for complete list. Want: typewriter, 
law books, or offers. S. Pierson, 428 East 
Second Street, Bloomington, Indiana. 

Composer, complete music — ^your words, ar- 
rangements— copying. Positively will not act 
as agent. Want cameras, photography sup- 
plies. No other reasonable offer refused. 
Peter Cartwright, 1124 16th Avenue, Altoona, 
Pennsylvania. 

Bar bell outfit, wrist watch, lounge chair, 
ottoman, studio couch, knee hole desk, for — 
sunshine lamp. Make offer. J. Kidd, 1503 
North Ponn., Indianapolis, Ind. 

Will swap Astor’s Journey in Other Worlds 
for Aubrey's Queen of Atlantis or Serviss’ 
Conquest of Mars, Conquest of Moon, or what? 
Frederick Shroyer, 1606 Packard, Ann Arbor, 
Michigan. 

^Have any quantity large or small European 
stamps to exchange for any other country. 
Ed S. Rafferty, 93 Bansklll Rd., Tinsley Park, 
Sheffield 9, England. 

Exchange all kinds of curios of S. Africa, 
coins, stamps, etc. for books, novelties or 
what have you, D. Sarawan, 12 William 
Street. Pi'etermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa. 

Will trade 3x5 Excelsior, printing press 
and equipment, practically new for 8 mm. mo- 
tion picture camera or projertor or portable 
^pewriter. W. R. Howell, Box 537, Union 
City, Tennessee. 

Will trade stamps for snapshots of build- 
ings, ships, statues, monuments, airplanes, 
mountains, bridges, dams, etc. Give date on 
back of stanyos. R. H. Heeley, 1635 West 
Street, Utica, New York. 

Miniature stage for marionettes, etc. and 
detective magazines. What have you to offer 
me? H. Blakeley, 97 Canning Rd., Weald- 
stone, Harrow, Middlesex, England. • 



CANDID CAMERA CATCHES CO-EDS 



128 








© 



men stepped into that stratosphere 
M balloon. Only one man stepped outl The 
other remained in the metal bcdl. Dead, 
the doctors pronounced him at first, for his 
heart was not beating. And yet he was not 
dead! Not according to the ultitnate tests 
of the physiologists. 

Such is, the seemingly impossible situation 
that marks the beginning of TH£ MIND 
MAGNET, by PAUL ERNST, a novelette 
of alien entities in the stratosphere. 



STRONOMERS tell us that there are 
only nine plemets. But Messrs. Penton 
and Blake prove otherwise in THE TENTH 
WORLD, the latest novelette to come from 
the facile pen of JOHN W. CAMPBELL. 
JR. Penton and Blake, our trouble-finding 
interplanetary team, revolutionize the sci- 
ence of astronomy in this, their latest ex- 
ploit! 

» « « 

A new method of interstellar spvace travel! 
A daring conception of space-time forces! 
And a boy and a girl alone on a ten light- 
year journey! RALPH MILNE FARLEY,' 
popular author of science fiction, mixes 
these ingredients in his typewriter test-tube, 
and the result is A MONTH A MINUTE, 
one of the most fascinating stories of space- 
time travel we have ever seen. 



Mathematics has its Einstein, astronomy 
its Sir James Jeans, and physics its Milli- 
kan. But rocketry, the newest and most pio- 
neering of all the sciences, as up-to-^te 
as science fiction itself, has but one acknowl- 
edged dean — Willy Ley! 

Willy Ley is internationally famous for 
his researches and scientific papers on fhe 
latest developments in the science of rock- 
etry, and in our next issue we are pleased to 
present his latest article on this fascinating 
subject— EIGHT DAYS FROM THE HIS- 
TORY OF ROCKETRY. 



In addition to all these headlined attrac- 
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WONDER STORIES brings y^ou many 
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EVBf ISSUE 



HUMOK SyBUYWHEM 



120 







Hope without .foundation is pretty futile 
in this competitive age I But hope 
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ous and systematic study of International 
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Courses are giving them the training they 
need. Investigation will not< put you 
under any obligation:. Moil the bouponl 




BOX 3968-K, SCRANTON, PENN A. 

Without cost 'or obligatloif, please send me a copy of your booklet, “Who Win# 
and Why,” and full particulars about the subject before which I have marked X; 



Architect 

Aichitaotonl DmftamAn 
BoHdins SetdmaUns 
CoDbactor and BuUdor 
Sbuctunl DraftBman 
Btraetunl Easmear' 

How to Inrent ^tent 
Eleotrioal Ensinav 
Qecblo Lishtins 
WeldioSs Eleebio and Gas, 
Reading Shop lUueprints 
BoOarmaker 



Manacttiieal 

□ Office Management 

Q Indnetnal Alanagemest 
B Traffie Kfanagenient 
ylAocioontancy 

□ cost Aocoontanfe 









TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL COURSES 
O Heat Treatment of Metala Q I^uinbing Q Steam Fitting 
O Bheet Metal Worker B Heating Q VentilatioD 

□ Telegraph Engineer Q Air ^nditianisg 

□ Telephone Work □ Radio □ Steam Engineer 

D Meenanical Engineering □ Steam Eleetrio Engines 

C Mechanical Dxafteman □ Marine Engineer 

O Mechinist □ Toolmaker □ B. IL I^oeomoUres 

□ Patternmaker □ R; IL Seotien Foreanan 

D Gaa Englnca Q Dieeel En^nco Q Air Brakes □ R. B. Bignalmea 
O Aviation EnglneB □ Hi^way Engueering 

□ Antomobile Meehan lo B Civil Engineering 

Q EeirigeratioD Q Surveying and ^*rp**r 

BUSINESS TRAINING COURSES 

C C. P. AeoonAtant O Servlee Station Baleemanahlp 

O Bookkeeping □ Hnt Year College 

D SeeretaiU Wmk O Bnainoe Coneetrendence 

g ^tgush D Freneb D I^etterlng Show Cvds □ Signs 

B^amanahip □ Stenosaphy and 

□ Advertising Q Civil Bervloo 



I Typing 
Q Mail Carrier 



D Bridge Engineer 

□ Bridge and Buflding Foreman 

□ ChemistrT 

□ Pharmacy 

§ Coal Mining 
Mine Foreman 
Navigation' 

□ Cotton Mannfaeturuig 
□ Woolen Manolactaiing 
□ Agriculture 

B Fruit Growfai^ 

Pouter Fanning 

□ Railway Mall Clerk 
B Grade cbheol Bubjeeti 
B High School Subieeta 
□ College Prepamtory 
□ IIluBtratxng 
□ Cartooning 



^.j„^,^'Address.. 



.Staie^ ^.Prestni Posilian... 



If tf 09 rwids {#■ Canada, send tJUa cotipan to fhs Internalional Corratpand^tnoa Sekoola Canadian, Limiied, MentroA, Canada 



130 



w»Wi7TUvrsuKt:''rtAVc“M-a»Ycut- 

BUILO! 010 YOU TRAIN FOR A 

long tim£ with weights and pulleys? 




WAY -WITH WOAPPARATUi 

MAKES MUSCLES GROW UKE MAG 




Hcrtfs the Kind a, 

NEW MEN I BuiM 



Vo YOU Want to Se One? 



Men — meet William J. Goldstein, of Metuchen, N. J., ^win- 
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Do you want a prize-winning body like this? Are 
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Give Me 7 Days and Til Prove I Can 
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I was once a skinny, timid weaklin'. 
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Then I discovered the amazing secret 
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— vout Avstem—afteJl— snr.h__j>ePfllA5ui 




I have no use for “contraptions” that 
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My Dynamic Tension method is all it 
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OFFER. 

Book of Photographs^ 
FREE 






CHAl 
ATI. 
Dept 
115 Eas 
St., New 
N, Y. 

I want llie proof Hint y 






Let me show you the amazing results 
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I’ll send you FREE my famous book, . » « - 

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It shows actual photos. It teds / I'ealthy. luislti’ body nml biV 

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THEY SAID A STOVE LIKE THIS WOULD Cl 
ALOT--BUTITDIDNT. I GOT IT AT THE 



4 r- 














1 * ( • 

1 


• 







Gas Stoves 




PRICED 



and I paid for 
it by the month” 

MTake the advice of one 
who knows— mail the 
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new FREE Kalamazoo 
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money. 

“I wasted days looking 
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Sfoves Sent on Trials 
1,200,000 Users 

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Aiipiovad by 
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Housekeeiiins 

iDStilUifl 



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KALAMAZOO STOVE 
FURNACE COMPAN 

493 Rochester Ave,, Kalamazoo, Min 

Warehouses: Utica, NewYork; Young 
town, Ohio;- Reading, Pennsylvani* 
Springheld, Massachusetts 



Heaters 




Kalamazoo stove & Furnace Co., Mfra.. 

493 Rochester Avc.. Kalamazoo. Mich. 

Dear Sirs: Send meFREE FACTORY CATAIXX 
Check' articles in which you are interested. 

□ Coal & Wood Heaters D Oil Heate- 

□ Coal & Wood Ranges □ Oil Range 

□ Comb. Electric & Coal Range □ Gas Rang. 

D Cnmb. Gas & Coal Range □ Furnaces 



Namcl.. 



Free Furnace Plans